In 2025, fire departments serving Medina responded to 22 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $8K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
146 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 27 | — | |
| 2022 | 38 | +40.7% | |
| 2023 | 37 | -2.6% | |
| 2024 | 22 | -40.5% | |
| 2025 | 22 | +0.0% |
For the 1 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 115 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 19 | 16.5% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 18 | 15.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 16 | 13.9% | |
| 4 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 12 | 10.4% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 8 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 5.2% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 20 | 17.4% |
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 | 33 | 28.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 11 | 9.6% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 6 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 5.2% | |
| 8 | Match | 6 | 5.2% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 15.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Medina departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $101 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Medina sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,200 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 330 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 316 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 235 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 216 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 200 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 182 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 180 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 175 | 23.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 168 | 27.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 147 | 20.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 143 | 26.1 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 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.