In 2025, fire departments serving Chattanooga responded to 1,880 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $995K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 47% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
9,548 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $42.5M cumulative property loss. 7 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,701 | — | |
| 2022 | 2,000 | +17.6% | |
| 2023 | 2,055 | +2.8% | |
| 2024 | 1,912 | -7.0% | |
| 2025 | 1,880 | -1.7% |
For the 135 building fires Chattanooga departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 3,862 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 | 758 | 19.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 647 | 16.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 419 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 304 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 256 | 6.6% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 226 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 174 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 77 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 66 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 61 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 874 | 22.6% |
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 Chattanooga mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 1,937 | 50.2% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 324 | 8.4% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 238 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 200 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 196 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 152 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 147 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 89 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 83 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 54 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 442 | 11.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Chattanooga departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 37% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $995,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $748,000 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $500,000 | Arcing, shorted electrical equipment | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $349,100 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $250,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 8 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Chattanooga sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
58 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 | 5 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 20 | |
| 40-49 | 15 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 5 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 63,244 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Natural | 27,870 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,836 | 27.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,480 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 2,083 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,080 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,035 | 20.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,018 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,747 | 20.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,600 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,560 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1,448 | 47.4 mi |
Top 10 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 Chattanooga. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Chattanooga.
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.