In 2025, fire departments serving Nashville responded to 99 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
582 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $429K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 102 | — | |
| 2022 | 107 | +4.9% | |
| 2023 | 127 | +18.7% | |
| 2024 | 147 | +15.7% | |
| 2025 | 99 | -32.7% |
For the 11 building fires Nashville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 178 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 | 42 | 23.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 36 | 20.2% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 19 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Other | 9 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 24 | 13.5% |
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 Nashville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 88 | 49.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 13 | 7.3% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 9 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 7 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 7 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 5 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 10.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Nashville departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Nashville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,264 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,549 | 12.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 450 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 220 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 182 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 10.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 156 | 10.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 77 | 48.2 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 47448 | 582 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Nashville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Nashville.
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.