In 2025, fire departments serving Greeneville responded to 422 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $701K 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 51% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,791 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $8.4M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 273 | — | |
| 2022 | 325 | +19.0% | |
| 2023 | 332 | +2.2% | |
| 2024 | 439 | +32.2% | |
| 2025 | 422 | -3.9% |
For the 71 building fires Greeneville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 461 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 | 109 | 23.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 56 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 47 | 10.2% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 36 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 22 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 18 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Other | 17 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 17 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 115 | 24.9% |
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 Greeneville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 243 | 52.7% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 35 | 7.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 26 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 25 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 24 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 15 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 14 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 11 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 9 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 47 | 10.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Greeneville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 71% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $701,400 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $353,418 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $269,800 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $228,600 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $200,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Greeneville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 42,845 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,964 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,943 | 17.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2,738 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,436 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,200 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,185 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 2,115 | 13.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,050 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 2,000 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,727 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 1,542 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,500 | 26.4 mi |
Top 10 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 Greeneville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Greeneville.
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.