In 2025, fire departments serving Johnson City responded to 728 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K 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 44% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,278 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $10.0M cumulative property loss. 10 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 499 | — | |
| 2022 | 651 | +30.5% | |
| 2023 | 646 | -0.8% | |
| 2024 | 754 | +16.7% | |
| 2025 | 728 | -3.4% |
For the 76 building fires Johnson City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,360 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 231 | 17.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 198 | 14.6% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 153 | 11.2% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 123 | 9.0% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 120 | 8.8% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 71 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 60 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 33 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 31 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Other | 30 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 310 | 22.8% |
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 Johnson City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 593 | 43.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 198 | 14.6% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 82 | 6.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 76 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 54 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 43 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 38 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Match | 33 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 31 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 31 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 181 | 13.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Johnson City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 64% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $117,400 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $108,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Johnson City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
38 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 | 3 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 8 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 9 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 65,517 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,120 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,964 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 5,500 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 5,015 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,163 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,943 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2,738 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 2,579 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 2,404 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,185 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 2,115 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,050 | 15.7 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 Johnson City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Johnson City.
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.