In 2025, fire departments serving La Follette responded to 38 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Passenger vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 47% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
234 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $406K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 21 | — | |
| 2022 | 102 | — | |
| 2023 | 36 | -64.7% | |
| 2024 | 37 | +2.8% | |
| 2025 | 38 | +2.7% |
* Well below La Follette'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 La Follette departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 86 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 | Undetermined | 24 | 27.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 17 | 19.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Other | 5 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Structural area, other | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 10.5% |
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 La Follette mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 55 | 64.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 7.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 9.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by La Follette departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $14,291 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. La Follette sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 73,962 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 | 7.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 8,134 | 10.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,700 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,040 | 15.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,860 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,675 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,398 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,944 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,925 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,784 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,146 | 19.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,079 | 31.9 mi |
Top 2 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 La Follette. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in La Follette.
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.