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2025 County Report

Fires in Seneca County, OH

In 2025, fire departments serving Seneca County responded to 394 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $400K property loss.

36,837 residents FIPS 39147 37 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
394
2,279 across 5 years
Building fires
63
40 wildland
Property loss
$2.7M
$1.6M structure · $1.1M contents
Casualties
1 / 7
1 civ deaths · 7 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 50% of all calls.

394
Total Incidents
Building fires 63 16.0%
Power line down 48 12.2%
Unauthorized burning 35 8.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 34 8.6%
Natural vegetation fire, other 15 3.8%
All other categories 199 50.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Seneca County?

Apr peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 19
Feb 23
Mar 27
Apr 53
May 34
Jun 29
Jul 48
Aug 26
Sep 35
Oct 47
Nov 46
Dec 7
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Seneca County

2,279 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 505
2022 486
2023 444
2024 450
2025 394
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 63 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
54%
65
Cause undetermined
13%
16
Intentional / arson
13%
16
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
17
Under investigation
3%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Seneca County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 80% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $400,000 Tiffin Building fires Major
2 $175,000 Tiffin Building fires Significant
3 $150,000 Bloomville Building fires Significant
4 $120,000 Fostoria Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Bloomville Building fires Significant
6 $96,000 Tiffin Building fires Significant
7 $90,000 Bettsville Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
8 $50,000 Tiffin Building fires Significant
9 $40,000 Alvada Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
10 $40,000 Fostoria Building fires Significant
06 How Seneca County compares

Seneca County vs OH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.7
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Seneca County
10.7
OH avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
1.71
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Seneca County
1.71
OH avg
1.95
US avg
0.82
27.1
Civilian fire deaths per million
Seneca County
27.1
OH avg
10.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Seneca County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 39147.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Seneca County

1 departments report from this county.

BLOOM TWP FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 74105 4 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.