In 2025, fire departments serving Clifton responded to 51 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $14K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 92% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
107 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $341K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 8 | — | |
| 2022 | 17 | — | |
| 2023* | 10 | — | |
| 2024 | 21 | — | |
| 2025 | 51 | +142.9% |
* Well below Clifton'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 0 building fires Clifton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 27 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 | 6 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 5 | 18.5% | |
| 3 | Other | 3 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 14.8% |
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 Clifton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 44.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 4 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 3.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Clifton departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $13,500 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Clifton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,412 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,344 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 900 | 10.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 702 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 585 | 17.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 516 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 390 | 12.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 330 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 312 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 306 | 49.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 40.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 31.3 mi |
Top 3 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 Clifton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Clifton.
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.