In 2025, fire departments serving Hornbeak responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 96% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
133 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 20 | — | |
| 2022* | 15 | — | |
| 2023 | 28 | — | |
| 2024 | 43 | +53.6% | |
| 2025 | 27 | -37.2% |
* Well below Hornbeak's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 4 building fires Hornbeak departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 12 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 | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 8.3% |
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 Hornbeak mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 8.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hornbeak sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,065 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 569 | 44.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 500 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 316 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 227 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 175 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 168 | 23.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 143 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 140 | 48.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 139 | 40.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 132 | 49.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 122 | 45.8 mi |
Top 3 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 Hornbeak. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hornbeak.
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.