In 2025, fire departments serving Dyer responded to 52 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $54K 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 69% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
255 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $645K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 56 | — | |
| 2022 | 49 | -12.5% | |
| 2023 | 51 | +4.1% | |
| 2024 | 47 | -7.8% | |
| 2025 | 52 | +10.6% |
For the 11 building fires Dyer departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 128 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 | 40 | 31.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 9.4% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 11 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 8 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Other | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 29 | 22.7% |
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 Dyer mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 43 | 33.6% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 24 | 18.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 10.9% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 8 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Match | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 10 | 7.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dyer departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $53,900 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dyer sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,057 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 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 17.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 316 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 235 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 227 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 175 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 168 | 13.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 147 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 143 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 140 | 31.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 139 | 43.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 132 | 28.8 mi |
Top 4 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 Dyer. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Dyer.
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.