In 2025, fire departments serving Dickson responded to 369 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,436 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $6.0M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 181 | — | |
| 2022 | 260 | +43.6% | |
| 2023 | 302 | +16.2% | |
| 2024 | 324 | +7.3% | |
| 2025 | 369 | +13.9% |
For the 40 building fires Dickson departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 400 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 | 63 | 15.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 62 | 15.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 45 | 11.2% | |
| 4 | Other | 33 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 29 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 27 | 6.8% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 15 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 11 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 9 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 7 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 99 | 24.8% |
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 Dickson mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 149 | 37.2% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 45 | 11.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 31 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 30 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 27 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 20 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 15 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 14 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 9 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 53 | 13.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dickson departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 85% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $480,300 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $480,300 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $256,400 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $161,250 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $120,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dickson sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,906 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Natural | 585 | 42.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 516 | 48.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 331 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 330 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 312 | 25.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 264 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 240 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 240 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 235 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 225 | 19.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 218 | 41.3 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 Dickson. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Dickson.
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.