In 2025, fire departments serving Knoxville responded to 147 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 53% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
470 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 53 | — | |
| 2022 | 74 | — | |
| 2023 | 67 | -9.5% | |
| 2024 | 129 | +92.5% | |
| 2025 | 147 | +14.0% |
* Well below Knoxville'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 11 building fires Knoxville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 80 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 | 12 | 15.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 9 | 11.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 5 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 4 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 25 | 31.2% |
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 Knoxville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 23 | 28.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 9 | 11.2% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 7.5% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Match | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 11.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Knoxville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $140,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $80,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $6,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Knoxville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,256 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 800 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 14.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 19.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 346 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 340 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 320 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 45.2 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 | 50138 | 470 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Knoxville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.