In 2025, fire departments serving Franklin responded to 719 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3.0M 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 55% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,133 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $22.1M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 535 | — | |
| 2022 | 631 | +17.9% | |
| 2023 | 663 | +5.1% | |
| 2024 | 585 | -11.8% | |
| 2025 | 719 | +22.9% |
For the 81 building fires Franklin departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 913 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 148 | 16.2% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 110 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 91 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 76 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 73 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 60 | 6.6% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 36 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 21 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 20 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Wall assembly | 18 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 260 | 28.5% |
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 Franklin mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 313 | 34.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 83 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 80 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 62 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 61 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 51 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 36 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 31 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 24 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Match | 23 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 149 | 16.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Franklin departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 81% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $760,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $750,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $180,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Franklin sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
18 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,475 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 328 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 312 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 235 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 225 | 26.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 179 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 170 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 157 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 148 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 118 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 118 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 116 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 113 | 46.6 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 Franklin. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Franklin.
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.