In 2025, fire departments serving Telford responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K 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 71% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
77 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $91K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022 | 11 | — | |
| 2023 | 10 | -9.1% | |
| 2024 | 22 | +120.0% | |
| 2025 | 28 | +27.3% |
* Well below Telford'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 6 building fires Telford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 21 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 | 11 | 52.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Corridor, mall | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Sales area, showroom (exclude display window) | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Wall assembly | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 4.8% |
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 Telford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 61.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 4.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Telford departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Telford sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 67,635 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,120 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,964 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 5,500 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 5,015 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,163 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,943 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2,738 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 2,579 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,436 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 2,404 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,200 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,185 | 34.4 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 Telford. 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.