In 2025, fire departments serving Mendon responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
117 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $295K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 27 | — | |
| 2022 | 36 | +33.3% | |
| 2023* | 11 | — | |
| 2024 | 22 | — | |
| 2025 | 21 | -4.5% |
* Well below Mendon'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 4 building fires Mendon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 58 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 | Outside area, other | 26 | 44.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 9 | 15.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Other | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 6.9% |
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 Mendon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 44 | 75.9% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 6.9% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 1.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mendon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 4 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 128 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 58 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 40.3 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 | 45862 | 117 |
Six Ohio cities with population within ±25% of Mendon. 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.