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2025 County Report

Fires in Stark County, OH

In 2025, fire departments serving Stark County responded to 2,919 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $3.8M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

206,714 residents FIPS 39151 73 cities · 42 fire depts
Total incidents
2,919
15,959 across 5 years
Building fires
406
183 wildland
Property loss
$16.3M
$12.3M structure · $4.0M contents
Casualties
4 / 28
4 civ deaths · 19 civ inj · 9 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Unauthorized burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.

2,919
Total Incidents
Unauthorized burning 448 15.3%
Building fires 406 13.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 342 11.7%
Power line down 336 11.5%
Carbon monoxide incident 192 6.6%
All other categories 1,195 40.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Stark County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 210
Feb 176
Mar 344
Apr 301
May 323
Jun 184
Jul 239
Aug 255
Sep 312
Oct 230
Nov 227
Dec 118
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Stark County

15,959 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 3,258
2022 2,940
2023 3,499
2024 3,343
2025 2,919
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 406 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
37%
213
Cause undetermined
14%
84
Intentional / arson
9%
54
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
37
Under investigation
31%
178
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
9
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $7.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Stark County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 60% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $3,750,000 MASSILLON Building fires Major
2 $1,000,000 CANTON Building fires Major
3 $500,000 ALLIANCE Building fires Major
4 $450,000 Louisville Building fires Major
5 $350,000 CANTON Building fires Major
6 $334,600 Louisville Building fires Major
7 $300,000 CANTON Building fires Major
8 $250,000 MASSILLON Building fires Major
9 $200,000 CANAL FULTON Building fires Significant
10 $200,000 NAVARRE Building fires Significant
06 How Stark County compares

Stark County vs OH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

14.12
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Stark County
14.12
OH avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
1.96
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Stark County
1.96
OH avg
1.95
US avg
0.82
19.4
Civilian fire deaths per million
Stark County
19.4
OH avg
10.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Stark County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 39151.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Stark County

42 departments report from this county.

CANTON FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 76009 592 incidents 167 paid
SIDNEY FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 75015 237 incidents 37 paid
ALLIANCE FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 76001 201 incidents 30 paid
PORTSMOUTH FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 73017 131 incidents 38 paid
TIFFIN FIRERESCUE DIVISION
—
FDID 74017 108 incidents 35 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.