In 2025, fire departments serving Blountville responded to 122 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $110K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
716 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 131 | — | |
| 2022 | 171 | +30.5% | |
| 2023 | 167 | -2.3% | |
| 2024 | 125 | -25.1% | |
| 2025 | 122 | -2.4% |
For the 17 building fires Blountville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 250 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 49 | 19.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 46 | 18.4% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 22 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 19 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 13 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 13 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 10 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 8 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 8 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 57 | 22.8% |
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 Blountville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 70 | 28.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 52 | 20.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 22 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated heat from another fire | 15 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 15 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 8 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 33 | 13.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Blountville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 77% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $110,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $51,300 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $22,550 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Blountville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 49,841 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,120 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,300 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,765 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2,738 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,402 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,200 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,185 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 2,115 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,050 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,727 | 25.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 1,542 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,500 | 18.6 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 Tennessee cities with population within ±25% of Blountville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Blountville.
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.