In 2025, fire departments serving Oak Ridge responded to 149 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $85K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 48% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
986 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 199 | — | |
| 2022 | 215 | +8.0% | |
| 2023 | 245 | +14.0% | |
| 2024 | 178 | -27.3% | |
| 2025 | 149 | -16.3% |
For the 7 building fires Oak Ridge departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 355 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 | Outside area, other | 68 | 19.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 54 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 49 | 13.8% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 23 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 16 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 11 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 10 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 9 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 9 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 96 | 27.0% |
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 Oak Ridge mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 138 | 38.9% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 33 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 30 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 27 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 22 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 15 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 10 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 43 | 12.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Oak Ridge departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $84,700 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $55,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $52,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Oak Ridge sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 76,958 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 | 10,586 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 8,134 | 22.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,788 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,700 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,040 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,450 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,398 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,200 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,944 | 9.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,925 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,784 | 25.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,146 | 48.6 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 | 37830 | 986 |
Six Tennessee cities with population within ±25% of Oak Ridge. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Oak Ridge.
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.