In 2025, fire departments serving Hendersonville responded to 478 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,197 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $20.5M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 386 | — | |
| 2022 | 433 | +12.2% | |
| 2023 | 527 | +21.7% | |
| 2024 | 373 | -29.2% | |
| 2025 | 478 | +28.2% |
For the 27 building fires Hendersonville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 482 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 | 68 | 14.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 50 | 10.4% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 47 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 43 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 35 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 18 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Other | 16 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 16 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 15 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 15 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 159 | 33.0% |
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 Hendersonville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 174 | 36.1% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 46 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 46 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 38 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 30 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 21 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 18 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 17 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 11 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 66 | 13.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hendersonville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 72% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $450,000 | Water vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $375,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $241,800 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $241,800 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $241,800 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $200,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $150,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hendersonville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
16 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,152 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 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 230 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 225 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 180 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 178 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 170 | 31.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 153 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 118 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 118 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 116 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 112 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 101 | 40.5 mi |
Top 7 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 Hendersonville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hendersonville.
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.