In 2025, fire departments serving Rocky Top responded to 75 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
548 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.7M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 152 | — | |
| 2022 | 157 | +3.3% | |
| 2023 | 92 | -41.4% | |
| 2024 | 72 | -21.7% | |
| 2025 | 75 | +4.2% |
For the 9 building fires Rocky Top departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 138 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 | 50 | 36.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 16 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 8 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 29 | 21.0% |
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 Rocky Top mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 96 | 69.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 4.3% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 4.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Arcing | 1 | 0.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 6.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rocky Top departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $63,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $38,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rocky Top sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
9 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 74,752 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 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 8,134 | 7.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,700 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,040 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,675 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,450 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,398 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,200 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,944 | 15.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,925 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,784 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,146 | 29.2 mi |
Top 4 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 Rocky Top. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.