In 2025, fire departments serving Christiana responded to 75 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 47% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
588 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 142 | — | |
| 2022 | 173 | +21.8% | |
| 2023 | 98 | -43.4% | |
| 2024 | 100 | +2.0% | |
| 2025 | 75 | -25.0% |
For the 7 building fires Christiana departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 173 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 66 | 38.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 35 | 20.2% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 13 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Other | 10 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 8 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 25 | 14.5% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Christiana mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 91 | 52.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 18 | 10.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 11 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 4.6% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 8 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 2 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 5.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Christiana departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $28,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Christiana sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,083 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 748 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 735 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 332 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 328 | 10.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 296 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 291 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 287 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 286 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 262 | 46.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 260 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 252 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 243 | 46.4 mi |
Top 6 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Tennessee cities with population within ±25% of Christiana. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Christiana.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.