In 2025, fire departments serving Lebanon responded to 654 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $600K 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 58% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,000 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $18.1M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 502 | — | |
| 2022 | 578 | +15.1% | |
| 2023 | 634 | +9.7% | |
| 2024 | 632 | -0.3% | |
| 2025 | 654 | +3.5% |
For the 21 building fires Lebanon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,260 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 | 274 | 21.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 207 | 16.4% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 170 | 13.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 147 | 11.7% | |
| 5 | Other | 68 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 57 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 40 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 34 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 34 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 18 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 211 | 16.7% |
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 Lebanon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 695 | 55.2% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 71 | 5.6% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 70 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 51 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 46 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 41 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 37 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 30 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 25 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 21 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 173 | 13.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lebanon departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 79% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $321,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $225,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $200,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lebanon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,166 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 | 328 | 24.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 225 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 180 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 178 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 178 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 170 | 23.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 160 | 46.9 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 153 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 121 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 118 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 116 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 112 | 35.3 mi |
Top 8 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 Lebanon. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lebanon.
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.