In 2025, fire departments serving Pigeon Forge responded to 58 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Pigeon Forge's departments reported 58 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 156 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
781 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 178 | — | |
| 2022 | 188 | +5.6% | |
| 2023 | 183 | -2.7% | |
| 2024 | 174 | -4.9% | |
| 2025* | 58 | — |
* Well below Pigeon Forge'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 12 building fires Pigeon Forge departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 251 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 | 40 | 15.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 30 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 30 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 25 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 13 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 12 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 11 | 4.4% | |
| 9 | Other | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 62 | 24.7% |
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 Pigeon Forge mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 136 | 54.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 23 | 9.2% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 22 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 17 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Radiated heat from another fire | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 3 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 7.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pigeon Forge departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $375,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pigeon Forge sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 89,984 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 | 12.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 10,641 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,788 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,580 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,964 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,422 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,231 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,200 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,944 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,943 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,436 | 22.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2,307 | 24.3 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 Pigeon Forge. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Pigeon Forge.
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.