In 2025, fire departments serving Memphis responded to 4,779 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
28,974 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $176.8M cumulative property loss. 69 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 5,348 | — | |
| 2022 | 6,263 | +17.1% | |
| 2023 | 6,449 | +3.0% | |
| 2024 | 6,135 | -4.9% | |
| 2025 | 4,779 | -22.1% |
For the 536 building fires Memphis departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 14,425 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 | 3,141 | 21.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2,394 | 16.6% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1,324 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 1,319 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 711 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 635 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 594 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 580 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 504 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 470 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2,753 | 19.1% |
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 Memphis mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4,699 | 32.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2,554 | 17.7% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 1,179 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1,119 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Incendiary device | 988 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 806 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 638 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 517 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 433 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 391 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1,101 | 7.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Memphis departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 17% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $750,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $700,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $600,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $540,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $500,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Major | Investigated |
| 8 | $498,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Memphis sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
329 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 | 25 | |
| 10-19 | 12 | |
| 20-29 | 58 | |
| 30-39 | 52 | |
| 40-49 | 58 | |
| 50-59 | 62 | |
| 60-69 | 34 | |
| 70-79 | 15 | |
| 80+ | 12 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 14,842 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 38.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,130 | 43.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,092 | 48.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,007 | 38.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 891 | 46.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 39.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 770 | 37.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 750 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 637 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 636 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 529 | 46.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 40.7 mi |
Top 10 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 Memphis. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Memphis.
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.