In 2025, fire departments serving Jellico responded to 39 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $280K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Road freight or transport vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
137 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023 | 40 | — | |
| 2024 | 58 | +45.0% | |
| 2025 | 39 | -32.8% |
* Well below Jellico'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 2 building fires Jellico departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Storage area, other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Vacant structural area | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Dumbwaiter or elavator shaft | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 5.0% |
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 Jellico mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Jellico departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $280,000 | Fire, other | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $170,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $4,000 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,500 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Jellico sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 77,431 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 | 10,586 | 10.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 8,134 | 20.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,700 | 9.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,040 | 12.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,860 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,675 | 12.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,398 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,944 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,925 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,784 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,537 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,500 | 48.6 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 37762 | 137 |
Six Tennessee cities with population within ±25% of Jellico. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Jellico.
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.