In 2025, fire departments serving Knoxville responded to 1,921 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $700K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 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.
10,488 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $58.4M cumulative property loss. 22 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,818 | — | |
| 2022 | 2,333 | +28.3% | |
| 2023 | 2,470 | +5.9% | |
| 2024 | 1,946 | -21.2% | |
| 2025 | 1,921 | -1.3% |
For the 93 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 3,665 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 | Outside area, other | 586 | 16.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 571 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 468 | 12.8% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 312 | 8.5% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 287 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 171 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 161 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Other | 115 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 90 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 89 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 815 | 22.2% |
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 | 2,073 | 56.6% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 222 | 6.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 213 | 5.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 161 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 152 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 138 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 112 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 83 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 71 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 69 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 371 | 10.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Knoxville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 36% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $700,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $580,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $357,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $300,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $293,475 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $275,300 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $265,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 8 | $241,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Knoxville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
57 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 | 3 | |
| 20-29 | 7 | |
| 30-39 | 8 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 8 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 4 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 102,580 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 17,140 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,586 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 8,134 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,788 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,580 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,700 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,040 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,675 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,450 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,231 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,200 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,944 | 24.7 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 Knoxville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Knoxville.
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.