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2025 County Report

Fires in Portage County, OH

In 2025, fire departments serving Portage County responded to 1,417 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss.

84,954 residents FIPS 39133 43 cities · 13 fire depts
Total incidents
1,417
7,923 across 5 years
Building fires
221
66 wildland
Property loss
$6.6M
$4.7M structure · $1.9M contents
Casualties
0 / 8
0 civ deaths · 6 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.

1,417
Total Incidents
Building fires 221 15.6%
Power line down 200 14.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 186 13.1%
Accident, potential accident, other 133 9.4%
Unauthorized burning 95 6.7%
All other categories 582 41.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Portage County?

May peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 105
Feb 79
Mar 162
Apr 112
May 174
Jun 171
Jul 126
Aug 96
Sep 108
Oct 131
Nov 104
Dec 49
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Portage County

7,923 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,412
2022 1,537
2023 1,723
2024 1,834
2025 1,417
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 221 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
46%
111
Cause undetermined
21%
50
Intentional / arson
14%
33
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
15
Under investigation
13%
31
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Portage County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 63% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 Ravenna Building fires Major
2 $450,000 AURORA Building fires Major
3 $440,000 STREETSBORO Building fires Major
4 $400,000 diamond Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
5 $300,000 Ravenna Building fires Major
6 $250,000 Ravenna Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
7 $200,000 PARIS TWP Building fires Significant
8 $150,000 RAVENNA Building fires Significant
9 $150,000 Mantua Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
10 $130,000 Newton Twp Building fires Significant
06 How Portage County compares

Portage County vs OH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

16.68
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Portage County
16.68
OH avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
2.6
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Portage County
2.6
OH avg
1.95
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Portage County
0
OH avg
10.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Portage County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 39133.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Portage County

13 departments report from this county.

KENT FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 67015 252 incidents 33 paid
AURORA FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 67003 110 incidents 17 paid
MANTUASHALERSVILLE FIRE DISTR
—
FDID 67215 110 incidents 6 paid
BRIMFIELD FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 67134 104 incidents
GARRETTSVILLE FREEDOM NELSON J
—
FDID 67211 94 incidents 1 paid
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in OH

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 OHOTR-FY19-RX-Blausey Spring 2019 WUI 2019 FWS 125
2 Little Storm Creek 2020 USFS 122
3 GREEN 2015 USFS 109
4 THIRTEEN 2018 USFS 105
5 Terra Vista Prescribe Fire 2021 NPS 79
6 Lawco 2023 USFS 61
7 128 2021 USFS 51
8 FY23 NERI RX Burns 2022 NPS 40
9 Rock Hollow 2023 USFS 29
10 HOADLEY 2018 USFS 24

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.