In 2025, fire departments serving Sharon responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $80K 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 73% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
131 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $863K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 18 | — | |
| 2022 | 33 | +83.3% | |
| 2023 | 26 | -21.2% | |
| 2024 | 28 | +7.7% | |
| 2025 | 26 | -7.1% |
For the 7 building fires Sharon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 54 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 | 12 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 6 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 4 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 4 | 7.4% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Other | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 18.5% |
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 Sharon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 21 | 38.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 5 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Conducted heat from another fire | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 7.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sharon departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sharon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,352 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 500 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 316 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Smoking | 311 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 235 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 227 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 200 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 175 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 168 | 27.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 147 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 143 | 11.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 140 | 21.3 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 38255 | 131 |
Six Tennessee cities with population within ±25% of Sharon. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sharon.
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.