In 2025, fire departments serving Medford responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
59 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $505K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 20 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | -10.0% | |
| 2023 | 9 | -50.0% | |
| 2024* | 1 | — | |
| 2025 | 11 | — |
* Well below Medford's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 0 building fires Medford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 27.8% | |
| 2 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 16.7% |
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 Medford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 4 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Match | 1 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Medford departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $7,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Medford sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,827 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,909 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 28.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 16.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 48.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 180 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 177 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 144 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 120 | 43.7 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 55049 | 59 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Medford. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.