In 2025, fire departments serving Bradford responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 74% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
159 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $54K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 31 | — | |
| 2022 | 44 | +41.9% | |
| 2023 | 33 | -25.0% | |
| 2024 | 28 | -15.2% | |
| 2025 | 23 | -17.9% |
For the 3 building fires Bradford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 108 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 | 28 | 25.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 15 | 13.9% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 15 | 13.9% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Other | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 13 | 12.0% |
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 Bradford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 56 | 51.9% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 10 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Match | 7 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 6 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 5 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 7.4% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bradford sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,413 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 500 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 316 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Smoking | 311 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 235 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 227 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 200 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 175 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 168 | 23.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 147 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 143 | 12.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 140 | 21.4 mi |
Top 2 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 Bradford. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bradford.
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.