In 2025, fire departments serving Lenoir City responded to 214 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 64% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,298 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.5M cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 234 | — | |
| 2022 | 293 | +25.2% | |
| 2023 | 291 | -0.7% | |
| 2024 | 266 | -8.6% | |
| 2025 | 214 | -19.5% |
For the 40 building fires Lenoir City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 437 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 | 72 | 16.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 56 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 50 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 40 | 9.2% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 22 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 18 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Other | 17 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 17 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 12 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 11 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 122 | 27.9% |
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 Lenoir City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 202 | 46.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 36 | 8.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 33 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 28 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 21 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 17 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 14 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 11 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 7 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 52 | 11.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lenoir City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $18,494 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $3,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lenoir City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 85,008 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 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,586 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 8,134 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,788 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,450 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,231 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,200 | 21.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,944 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,925 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,784 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,050 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 33.6 mi |
Top 5 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 Lenoir City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lenoir 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.