In 2025, fire departments serving Union City responded to 171 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $245K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
766 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $4.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 161 | — | |
| 2022 | 127 | -21.1% | |
| 2023 | 151 | +18.9% | |
| 2024 | 156 | +3.3% | |
| 2025 | 171 | +9.6% |
For the 33 building fires Union City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 410 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 | 69 | 16.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 55 | 13.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 43 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 41 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 29 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 24 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Other | 11 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 115 | 28.0% |
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 Union City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 158 | 38.5% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 37 | 9.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 36 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 28 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 25 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 21 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 11 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 11 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 64 | 15.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Union City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 86% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $245,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $175,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $151,275 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $72,900 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Union City sits above 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,196 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 569 | 44.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 500 | 18.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 316 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Smoking | 311 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 227 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 168 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 143 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 140 | 37.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 132 | 40.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 104 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 104 | 19.4 mi |
Top 9 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 Union City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Union City.
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.