In 2025, fire departments serving Etowah responded to 82 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $207K 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 70% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
575 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.6M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 86 | — | |
| 2022 | 91 | +5.8% | |
| 2023 | 168 | +84.6% | |
| 2024 | 148 | -11.9% | |
| 2025 | 82 | -44.6% |
For the 32 building fires Etowah departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 232 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 | 59 | 25.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 33 | 14.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 15 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 14 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 14 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Other | 9 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 9 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 9 | 3.9% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 52 | 22.4% |
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 Etowah mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 119 | 51.3% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 20 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 19 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 13 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 4 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 23 | 9.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Etowah departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $207,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $207,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $89,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $57,100 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Etowah sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 68,311 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 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,788 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,450 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,231 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,200 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,018 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,600 | 4.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,492 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 1,450 | 34.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,281 | 46.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 1,261 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 35.7 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 Etowah. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Etowah.
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.