In 2025, fire departments serving Jackson responded to 602 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $350K 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 41% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,051 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $10.8M cumulative property loss. 11 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 617 | — | |
| 2022 | 705 | +14.3% | |
| 2023 | 400 | -43.3% | |
| 2024 | 727 | +81.8% | |
| 2025 | 602 | -17.2% |
For the 57 building fires Jackson departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,382 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 | 244 | 17.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 230 | 16.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 167 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 106 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 81 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 67 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 67 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 52 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 31 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 26 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 311 | 22.5% |
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 Jackson mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 628 | 45.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 81 | 5.9% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 80 | 5.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 71 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 62 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 57 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 56 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 55 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 49 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 45 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 198 | 14.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Jackson departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 58% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $345,600 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $160,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $88,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Jackson sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
25 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 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 5 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,979 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 316 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 306 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 235 | 20.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 216 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 206 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 203 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 182 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 180 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 175 | 18.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 46.1 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 Jackson. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Jackson.
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.