In 2025, fire departments serving Erwin responded to 49 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
181 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $527K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 60 | — | |
| 2023 | 32 | -46.7% | |
| 2024 | 36 | +12.5% | |
| 2025 | 49 | +36.1% |
* Well below Erwin'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 5 building fires Erwin departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 73 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 | 18 | 24.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 10 | 13.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 8.2% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 14 | 19.2% |
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 Erwin mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 42 | 57.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 6.8% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 5 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 8.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Erwin departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $6,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Erwin sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 75,838 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 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,913 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,964 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 5,500 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 5,015 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,163 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,943 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2,738 | 10.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 2,579 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,436 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 2,404 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 2,235 | 46.8 mi |
Top 2 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 Erwin. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Erwin.
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.