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2025 County Report

Fires in Putnam County, OH

In 2025, fire departments serving Putnam County responded to 262 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $975K property loss.

16,436 residents FIPS 39137 34 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
262
1,232 across 5 years
Building fires
74
30 wildland
Property loss
$3.2M
$2.3M structure · $880K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.

262
Total Incidents
Building fires 74 28.2%
Power line down 37 14.1%
Cultivated grain or crop fire 21 8.0%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 16 6.1%
Passenger vehicle fire 10 3.8%
All other categories 104 39.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Putnam County?

Oct peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 26
Feb 12
Mar 26
Apr 34
May 11
Jun 26
Jul 14
Aug 7
Sep 19
Oct 52
Nov 27
Dec 8
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Putnam County

1,232 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 190
2022 265
2023 258
2024 257
2025 262
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 74 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
58%
45
Cause undetermined
5%
4
Intentional / arson
15%
12
Equipment / heat source failure
19%
15
Under investigation
1%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Putnam County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 85% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $975,000 Ottawa Outside equipment fire Major
2 $200,000 Ft Jennings Building fires Significant
3 $175,000 Leipsic Building fires Significant
4 $150,000 Columbus Grove Building fires Significant
5 $150,000 Leipsic Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 Miller City Building fires Significant
7 $75,000 Leipsic Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
8 $75,000 MontereyTownship o Building fires Significant
9 $40,000 Leipsic Building fires Significant
10 $40,000 Ottawa Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire Significant
06 How Putnam County compares

Putnam County vs OH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

15.94
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Putnam County
15.94
OH avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
4.5
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Putnam County
4.5
OH avg
1.95
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Putnam County
0
OH avg
10.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Putnam County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 39137.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Putnam County

2 departments report from this county.

KALIDA VOL FIRE DEPARTMENT
KIalida
FDID 69017 40 incidents
GLANDORF FIRE DEPARTMENT
GLANDORF
FDID 69015 24 incidents 3 vol
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.