In 2025, fire departments serving McMinnville responded to 194 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,020 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $5.4M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 167 | — | |
| 2022 | 281 | +68.3% | |
| 2023 | 176 | -37.4% | |
| 2024 | 202 | +14.8% | |
| 2025 | 194 | -4.0% |
For the 48 building fires McMinnville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 261 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 | 74 | 28.4% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 39 | 14.9% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 33 | 12.6% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 32 | 12.3% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 8 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 6 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 43 | 16.5% |
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 McMinnville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 151 | 57.9% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 35 | 13.4% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 4.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 10 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 8 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 23 | 8.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by McMinnville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 65% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $85,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $78,100 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $65,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. McMinnville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
9 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 28,050 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,480 | 21.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,080 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,035 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,018 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,747 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,560 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,120 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,075 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,050 | 17.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 987 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 950 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 934 | 33.6 mi |
Top 5 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 McMinnville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in McMinnville.
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.