Home› Counties› OH› Van Wert County
2025 County Report

Fires in Van Wert County, OH

In 2025, fire departments serving Van Wert County responded to 174 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss.

14,282 residents FIPS 39161 24 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
174
1,080 across 5 years
Building fires
41
33 wildland
Property loss
$1.3M
$900K structure · $390K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.

174
Total Incidents
Building fires 41 23.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 22 12.6%
Grass fire 15 8.6%
Fire, other 12 6.9%
Unauthorized burning 8 4.6%
All other categories 76 43.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Van Wert County?

Oct peaks. Jul dips.

Jan 11
Feb 10
Mar 18
Apr 18
May 18
Jun 7
Jul 4
Aug 14
Sep 16
Oct 26
Nov 26
Dec 6
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Van Wert County

1,080 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 198
2022 244
2023 249
2024 215
2025 174
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 41 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
32
Cause undetermined
16%
10
Intentional / arson
11%
7
Equipment / heat source failure
19%
12
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $852K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Van Wert County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 95% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $150,000 Willshire Building fires Significant
2 $150,000 Wren Building fires Significant
3 $143,840 VAN WERT Building fires Significant
4 $113,100 VAN WERT Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Willshire Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 Middle Point Building fires Significant
7 $45,000 Willshire Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
8 $40,000 Convoy Building fires Significant
9 $30,000 Van Wert Building fires Significant
10 $30,000 Willshire Building fires Significant
06 How Van Wert County compares

Van Wert County vs OH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

12.18
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Van Wert County
12.18
OH avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
2.87
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Van Wert County
2.87
OH avg
1.95
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Van Wert County
0
OH avg
10.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Van Wert County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 39161.

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.