Home› Counties› OH› Richland County
2025 County Report

Fires in Richland County, OH

In 2025, fire departments serving Richland County responded to 1,033 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss.

73,103 residents FIPS 39139 36 cities · 15 fire depts
Total incidents
1,033
6,075 across 5 years
Building fires
155
51 wildland
Property loss
$3.0M
$2.0M structure · $995K contents
Casualties
2 / 10
2 civ deaths · 10 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.

1,033
Total Incidents
Power line down 203 19.7%
Building fires 155 15.0%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 98 9.5%
Unauthorized burning 82 7.9%
Carbon monoxide incident 71 6.9%
All other categories 424 41.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Richland County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 74
Feb 61
Mar 141
Apr 122
May 109
Jun 111
Jul 54
Aug 101
Sep 85
Oct 49
Nov 98
Dec 28
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Richland County

6,075 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,235
2022 1,356
2023 1,086
2024 1,365
2025 1,033
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 155 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
38%
72
Cause undetermined
24%
45
Intentional / arson
10%
20
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
27
Under investigation
11%
21
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Richland County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 65% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 Butler Building fires Major
2 $200,000 Butler Building fires Significant
3 $158,000 Mansfield Building fires Significant
4 $143,050 Mansfield Building fires Significant
5 $140,000 BUTLER Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 LUCAS Building fires Significant
7 $87,800 Bellville Building fires Significant
8 $70,000 Mansfield Building fires Significant
9 $70,000 Lexington Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 Mansfield Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
06 How Richland County compares

Richland County vs OH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

14.13
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Richland County
14.13
OH avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
2.12
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Richland County
2.12
OH avg
1.95
US avg
0.82
27.4
Civilian fire deaths per million
Richland County
27.4
OH avg
10.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Richland County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 39139.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Richland County

15 departments report from this county.

MANSFIELD FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 70009 479 incidents 97 paid
The City of Shelby Fire Department
—
FDID 70017 82 incidents 13 paid
OTTAWA VOL FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 69023 47 incidents 4 vol
LEIPSIC VOL FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 69019 30 incidents
JEFFERSON TWP BELLVILLE FIRE D
—
FDID 70111 27 incidents 3 paid 4 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.