In 2025, fire departments serving Tazewell responded to 65 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
516 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.0M cumulative property loss. 8 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 111 | — | |
| 2022 | 125 | +12.6% | |
| 2023 | 119 | -4.8% | |
| 2024 | 96 | -19.3% | |
| 2025 | 65 | -32.3% |
For the 11 building fires Tazewell departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 230 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 | 58 | 25.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 40 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 30 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 11 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Other | 8 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 52 | 22.6% |
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 Tazewell mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 97 | 42.2% | |
| 2 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 19 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 16 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 12 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 38 | 16.5% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tazewell sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
12 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 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 86,243 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 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 8,134 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,400 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,700 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,040 | 19.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,860 | 18.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,675 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,539 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,300 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,040 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,000 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 2,850 | 39.1 mi |
Top 2 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 Tazewell. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Tazewell.
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.