In 2025, fire departments serving Piperton responded to 36 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $32K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 72% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
288 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $517K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 33 | — | |
| 2022 | 76 | — | |
| 2023 | 93 | +22.4% | |
| 2024 | 50 | -46.2% | |
| 2025 | 36 | -28.0% |
* Well below Piperton'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 2 building fires Piperton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 83 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 20.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 9 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 8 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 8.4% | |
| 6 | Other | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 18 | 21.7% |
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 Piperton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 33 | 39.8% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 7.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 6 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 13.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Piperton departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $32,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Piperton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 18,584 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,826 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 33.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,130 | 25.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,092 | 34.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,007 | 18.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,005 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 39.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 891 | 34.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 26.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 770 | 22.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 750 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 720 | 49.7 mi |
Top 3 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 Piperton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Piperton.
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.