In 2025, fire departments serving Pikeville responded to 141 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 59% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
615 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $6.5M cumulative property loss. 7 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 78 | — | |
| 2022 | 111 | +42.3% | |
| 2023 | 152 | +36.9% | |
| 2024 | 133 | -12.5% | |
| 2025 | 141 | +6.0% |
For the 25 building fires Pikeville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 182 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 | 73 | 40.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 29 | 15.9% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 13 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Exterior, exposed surface | 6 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 29 | 15.9% |
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 Pikeville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 94 | 51.6% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 22 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 11 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 15 | 8.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pikeville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 87% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $155,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $12,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pikeville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
14 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 4 | |
| 80+ | 3 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 36,425 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,450 | 28.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,480 | 12.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,214 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,080 | 17.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,035 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,018 | 2.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,747 | 25.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1,610 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,600 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,560 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,167 | 48.4 mi |
Top 6 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 Pikeville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Pikeville.
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.