In 2025, fire departments serving Morristown responded to 306 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $11.8M 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 48% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,527 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $24.3M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 110 | — | |
| 2022 | 362 | — | |
| 2023 | 338 | -6.6% | |
| 2024 | 411 | +21.6% | |
| 2025 | 306 | -25.5% |
* Well below Morristown'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 41 building fires Morristown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 690 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 | 211 | 30.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 80 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 69 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 43 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Other | 41 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 18 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 15 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 12 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 11 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 176 | 25.5% |
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 Morristown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 485 | 70.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 36 | 5.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 27 | 3.9% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 24 | 3.5% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 22 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 15 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 0.9% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 0.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 41 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Morristown departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $11,762,000 | Building fires | Catastrophic | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $361,500 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $250,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $196,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Morristown sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
17 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 84,947 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 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,580 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,964 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,700 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,040 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,860 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,675 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,539 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,300 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,943 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,436 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2,307 | 46.3 mi |
Top 9 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 Morristown. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Morristown.
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.