In 2025, fire departments serving Loretto responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
169 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $468K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 22 | — | |
| 2022* | 13 | — | |
| 2023 | 64 | — | |
| 2024 | 46 | -28.1% | |
| 2025 | 24 | -47.8% |
* Well below Loretto'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 1 building fires Loretto departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 38 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 | 10 | 26.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Other | 5 | 13.2% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - 5+ persons; including barrack/dormitory | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Closet | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 21.1% |
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 Loretto mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 18 | 47.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 8 | 21.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 2.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Loretto departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Loretto sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,203 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,163 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,014 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 900 | 34.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 706 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 702 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 585 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 520 | 37.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 516 | 25.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 460 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 390 | 36.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 49.8 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 Loretto. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Loretto.
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.