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2025 County Report

Fires in Summit County, OH

In 2025, fire departments serving Summit County responded to 4,969 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $2.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

479,672 residents FIPS 39153 45 cities · 38 fire depts
Total incidents
4,969
27,485 across 5 years
Building fires
477
175 wildland
Property loss
$19.5M
$14.5M structure · $5.0M contents
Casualties
2 / 27
2 civ deaths · 18 civ inj · 9 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.

4,969
Total Incidents
Power line down 839 16.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 711 14.3%
Unauthorized burning 669 13.5%
Building fires 477 9.6%
Accident, potential accident, other 344 6.9%
All other categories 1,929 38.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Summit County?

May peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 264
Feb 301
Mar 254
Apr 463
May 777
Jun 371
Jul 360
Aug 529
Sep 542
Oct 481
Nov 460
Dec 167
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Summit County

27,485 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 5,451
2022 5,506
2023 5,849
2024 5,710
2025 4,969
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 477 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
41%
320
Cause undetermined
18%
145
Intentional / arson
11%
85
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
60
Under investigation
18%
140
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
20
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $5.7M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Summit County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 40% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $2,000,000 Akron Building fires Major
2 $931,500 Stow Building fires Major
3 $631,000 City of Akron Building fires Major
4 $400,000 TALLMADGE Building fires Major
5 $400,000 Peninsula Building fires Major
6 $300,000 TALLMADGE Fires in structures other than in a building Major
7 $300,000 Hudson Building fires Major
8 $280,000 Stow Building fires Major
9 $250,000 Akron Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire Major
10 $250,000 NORTON Building fires Major
06 How Summit County compares

Summit County vs OH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.36
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Summit County
10.36
OH avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
0.99
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Summit County
0.99
OH avg
1.95
US avg
0.82
4.2
Civilian fire deaths per million
Summit County
4.2
OH avg
10.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Summit County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 39153.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Summit County

38 departments report from this county.

AKRON FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 77001 1,799 incidents 400 paid
CUYAHOGA FALLS FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 77011 453 incidents 86 paid
BARBERTON FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 77004 305 incidents 43 paid
STOW FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 77047 247 incidents 53 paid
MACEDONIA FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 77025 211 incidents 12 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.