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2025 County Report

Fires in Williams County, OH

In 2025, fire departments serving Williams County responded to 269 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss.

21,518 residents FIPS 39171 26 cities · 15 fire depts
Total incidents
269
1,798 across 5 years
Building fires
105
34 wildland
Property loss
$2.5M
$1.3M structure · $1.2M contents
Casualties
1 / 2
1 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 62% of all calls.

269
Total Incidents
Building fires 105 39.0%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 18 6.7%
Grass fire 17 6.3%
Passenger vehicle fire 14 5.2%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 12 4.5%
All other categories 103 38.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Williams County?

May peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 15
Feb 17
Mar 20
Apr 29
May 35
Jun 15
Jul 26
Aug 11
Sep 26
Oct 34
Nov 18
Dec 23
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Williams County

1,798 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 366
2022 337
2023 421
2024 405
2025 269
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 105 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
52%
48
Cause undetermined
27%
25
Intentional / arson
3%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
11
Under investigation
4%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Williams County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 87% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 Montpelier Building fires Major
2 $200,000 Stryker Building fires Significant
3 $165,000 Bryan Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 Bryan Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Bryan Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 Montpelier Building fires Significant
7 $75,000 Stryker Building fires Significant
8 $45,000 Edon Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $40,000 Bryan Building fires Significant
10 $40,000 Stryker Building fires Significant
06 How Williams County compares

Williams County vs OH vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

12.5
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Williams County
12.5
OH avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
4.88
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Williams County
4.88
OH avg
1.95
US avg
0.82
46.5
Civilian fire deaths per million
Williams County
46.5
OH avg
10.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Williams County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 39171.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Williams County

15 departments report from this county.

BRYAN FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 86005 66 incidents 5 paid
CHIPPEWA TWP FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 85200 52 incidents 1 paid
WOOSTER TWP FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 85131 51 incidents 5 paid
TOWN COUNTRY FIRE DISTRICT
—
FDID 85202 39 incidents 2 paid
MONTPELIER FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 86011 38 incidents 1 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.