In 2025, fire departments serving Parsons responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $392K 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 100% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
87 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 20 | — | |
| 2022 | 21 | +5.0% | |
| 2023* | 8 | — | |
| 2024 | 25 | — | |
| 2025 | 13 | -48.0% |
* Well below Parsons'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 8 building fires Parsons departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 47 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 | 9 | 19.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 14.9% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 4 | 8.5% | |
| 5 | Other | 3 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 6.4% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 6.4% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 6.4% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 14.9% |
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 Parsons mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 22 | 46.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 21.3% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 8.5% | |
| 5 | Radiated heat from another fire | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 2.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Parsons departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $392,400 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $187,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $80,700 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,500 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Parsons sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,015 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 900 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 702 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 585 | 22.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 516 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 390 | 31.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 47.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 331 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 330 | 17.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 312 | 38.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 264 | 20.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 244 | 42.4 mi |
Top 2 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 Parsons. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Parsons.
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.