In 2025, fire departments serving Medina responded to 278 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,850 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $11.7M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 322 | — | |
| 2022 | 434 | +34.8% | |
| 2023 | 413 | -4.8% | |
| 2024 | 403 | -2.4% | |
| 2025 | 278 | -31.0% |
For the 55 building fires Medina departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 452 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 66 | 14.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 47 | 10.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 42 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 40 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 37 | 8.2% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 37 | 8.2% | |
| 7 | Other | 18 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 15 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 14 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 13 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 123 | 27.2% |
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 Medina mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 171 | 37.8% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 45 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 40 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 32 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 26 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 15 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 14 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 14 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Match | 12 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 71 | 15.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Medina departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 86% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $275,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $179,150 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Medina sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 20 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 878 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 171 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 30 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 25 | 19.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 25 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 15 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 15 | 48.9 mi |
Top 8 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Ohio cities with population within ±25% of Medina. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Medina.
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.