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In 2025, fire departments serving Merritt Island responded to 56 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Merritt Island's departments reported 56 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 111 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 48% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
556 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $15.1M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 189 | — | |
| 2022* | 60 | — | |
| 2023 | 78 | — | |
| 2024 | 173 | +121.8% | |
| 2025* | 56 | — |
* Well below Merritt Island'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 8 building fires Merritt Island departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 144 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 | Undetermined | 32 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 29 | 20.1% | |
| 3 | Other | 15 | 10.4% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 7 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 27 | 18.8% |
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 Merritt Island mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 75 | 52.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 16 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 11 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 7.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Merritt Island departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000,000 | Water vehicle fire | Catastrophic | Investigated |
| 2 | $290,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Merritt Island sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 158,290 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,000 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13,000 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 12,564 | 22.9 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 10,240 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 9,000 | 6.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,500 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,302 | 22.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 7,000 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,981 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 6,263 | 15.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5,500 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,304 | 13.9 mi |
Top 7 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Florida cities with population within ±25% of Merritt Island. 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.