In 2025, fire departments serving McEwen responded to 89 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
May peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
379 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 72 | — | |
| 2022 | 58 | -19.4% | |
| 2023 | 77 | +32.8% | |
| 2024 | 83 | +7.8% | |
| 2025 | 89 | +7.2% |
For the 10 building fires McEwen departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 136 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 | 31 | 22.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 26 | 19.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 24 | 17.6% |
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 McEwen mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 62 | 45.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 15 | 11.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 13 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 7 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 10.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by McEwen departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,500 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. McEwen sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,260 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,300 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 1,024 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 585 | 40.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 516 | 48.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 331 | 12.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 330 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 312 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Smoking | 311 | 43.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 12.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 275 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 264 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 240 | 21.6 mi |
Top 4 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 McEwen. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in McEwen.
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.