In 2025, fire departments serving Franklin responded to 98 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 56% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
583 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $10.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 130 | — | |
| 2022 | 134 | +3.1% | |
| 2023 | 111 | -17.2% | |
| 2024 | 110 | -0.9% | |
| 2025 | 98 | -10.9% |
For the 18 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 221 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 | 85 | 38.5% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 28 | 12.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 20 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Other | 18 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 16 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 1.4% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Technical processing areas, other | 3 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 38 | 17.2% |
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 Franklin mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 140 | 63.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 19 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 10 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 9 | 4.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 13 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Franklin departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $125,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $55,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Franklin 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 | 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. 24,782 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Natural | 6,574 | 25.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,884 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,850 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,100 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,521 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,250 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 545 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 535 | 25.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 430 | 30.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 310 | 48.9 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 23851 | 582 |
Six Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Franklin. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 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.