In 2025, fire departments serving Bluff City responded to 45 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $357K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Bluff City's departments reported 45 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 93 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 60% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
463 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $861K cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 92 | — | |
| 2022 | 108 | +17.4% | |
| 2023 | 138 | +27.8% | |
| 2024 | 80 | -42.0% | |
| 2025* | 45 | — |
* Well below Bluff City'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 12 building fires Bluff City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 170 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 | 36 | 21.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 28 | 16.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 27 | 15.9% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 6 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Other | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Egress/exit, other | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 38 | 22.4% |
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 Bluff City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 88 | 51.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 12 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 9 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 23 | 13.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bluff City departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $357,100 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bluff City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 62,004 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 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,964 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 5,500 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 5,015 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,943 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2,738 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 2,579 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 2,404 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,185 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 2,115 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,050 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Other causes | 2,005 | 45.0 mi |
Top 4 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 Bluff City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bluff 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.