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2025 County Report

Fires in Sandusky County, OH

In 2025, fire departments serving Sandusky County responded to 354 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $5.0M property loss.

33,286 residents FIPS 39143 29 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
354
2,164 across 5 years
Building fires
64
36 wildland
Property loss
$7.1M
$6.6M structure · $503K contents
Casualties
5 / 2
5 civ deaths · 2 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 52% of all calls.

354
Total Incidents
Building fires 64 18.1%
Power line down 56 15.8%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 30 8.5%
Unauthorized burning 19 5.4%
Passenger vehicle fire 16 4.5%
All other categories 169 47.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Sandusky County?

Apr peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 25
Feb 18
Mar 38
Apr 44
May 35
Jun 25
Jul 20
Aug 36
Sep 23
Oct 39
Nov 26
Dec 25
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Sandusky County

2,164 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 456
2022 451
2023 449
2024 454
2025 354
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 64 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
56%
57
Cause undetermined
18%
18
Intentional / arson
8%
8
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
8
Under investigation
4%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
6%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $6.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Sandusky County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 93% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $5,000,000 Woodville Road freight or transport vehicle fire Catastrophic
2 $200,000 Woodville Building fires Significant
3 $150,000 Fremont Rail vehicle fire Significant
4 $150,000 Woodville Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
5 $110,000 Gibsonburg Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 Fremont Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
7 $100,000 Clyde Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 Fremont Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 Fremont Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
10 $80,000 Gibsonburg Building fires Significant
06 How Sandusky County compares

Sandusky County vs OH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.64
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Sandusky County
10.64
OH avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
1.92
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Sandusky County
1.92
OH avg
1.95
US avg
0.82
150.2
Civilian fire deaths per million
Sandusky County
150.2
OH avg
10.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Sandusky County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 39143.

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.