In 2025, fire departments serving Gallatin responded to 465 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2.6M 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 59% of all calls.
Oct peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,416 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $17.3M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 363 | — | |
| 2022 | 529 | +45.7% | |
| 2023 | 574 | +8.5% | |
| 2024 | 485 | -15.5% | |
| 2025 | 465 | -4.1% |
For the 36 building fires Gallatin departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 513 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 | 84 | 16.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 61 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 49 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 34 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 23 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 22 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 22 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 19 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 16 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 15 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 168 | 32.7% |
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 Gallatin mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 243 | 47.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 42 | 8.2% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 35 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 30 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 23 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 17 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 13 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 12 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 10 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 74 | 14.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Gallatin departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 81% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,642,940 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $120,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gallatin sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
10 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,205 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 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 230 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 225 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 180 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 178 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 178 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 170 | 35.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 153 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 118 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 116 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 112 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 101 | 32.9 mi |
Top 6 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 Gallatin. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Gallatin.
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.