In 2025, fire departments serving Bristol responded to 334 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $7.0M 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 52% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,637 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $11.6M cumulative property loss. 9 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 264 | — | |
| 2022 | 277 | +4.9% | |
| 2023 | 396 | +43.0% | |
| 2024 | 366 | -7.6% | |
| 2025 | 334 | -8.7% |
For the 51 building fires Bristol departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 508 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 | 77 | 15.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 57 | 11.2% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 50 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 46 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 45 | 8.9% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 29 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 19 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 15 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 14 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 12 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 144 | 28.3% |
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 Bristol mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 232 | 45.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 42 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 35 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 29 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 28 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 26 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 19 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 18 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 16 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 12 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 51 | 10.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bristol departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $7,000,000 | Building fires | Catastrophic | Investigated |
| 2 | $141,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bristol sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
18 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 44,657 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 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2,738 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 2,579 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,402 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,200 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,050 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,727 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 1,542 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,500 | 21.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 1,500 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,500 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,450 | 45.5 mi |
Top 8 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 Bristol. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bristol.
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.