In 2025, fire departments serving Sevierville responded to 556 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.8M 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 53% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,209 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $25.2M cumulative property loss. 11 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 509 | — | |
| 2022 | 724 | +42.2% | |
| 2023 | 716 | -1.1% | |
| 2024 | 704 | -1.7% | |
| 2025 | 556 | -21.0% |
For the 87 building fires Sevierville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,045 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 | 198 | 18.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 113 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 102 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 85 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 83 | 7.9% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 72 | 6.9% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 40 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Other | 31 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 21 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 21 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 279 | 26.7% |
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 Sevierville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 528 | 50.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 87 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 68 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 47 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 41 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 36 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 30 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 30 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 30 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Match | 19 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 129 | 12.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sevierville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 74% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,750,000 | Fire, other | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,240,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $800,000 | Fire, other | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $435,200 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 8 | $275,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sevierville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
29 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 3 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 4 | |
| 80+ | 3 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 99,082 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 | 18.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 10,641 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 8,134 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,788 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,580 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,964 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,040 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,231 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,200 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,944 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,943 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,436 | 22.4 mi |
Top 10 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 Sevierville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sevierville.
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.