In 2025, fire departments serving Tellico Plains responded to 115 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $144K 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 66% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
368 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 32 | — | |
| 2022 | 78 | — | |
| 2023 | 83 | +6.4% | |
| 2024 | 60 | -27.7% | |
| 2025 | 115 | +91.7% |
* Well below Tellico Plains'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 24 building fires Tellico Plains departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 79 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 | 30 | 38.0% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 8.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 6 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Other | 5 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 6.3% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 11.4% |
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 Tellico Plains mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 56 | 70.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 5 | 6.3% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 6.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 2.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Tellico Plains departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $144,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $90,900 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $4,000 | Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tellico Plains sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 111,751 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Natural | 27,870 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 17,140 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 10,641 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 9,036 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,788 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,580 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,450 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,422 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,231 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,200 | 21.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,040 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,600 | 17.1 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 Tellico Plains. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Tellico Plains.
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.