In 2025, fire departments serving Whitwell responded to 117 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 58% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
572 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 78 | — | |
| 2022 | 86 | +10.3% | |
| 2023 | 165 | +91.9% | |
| 2024 | 126 | -23.6% | |
| 2025 | 117 | -7.1% |
For the 21 building fires Whitwell departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 169 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 | 40 | 23.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 24 | 14.2% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 16 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Other | 11 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Function area, other | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 44 | 26.0% |
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 Whitwell mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 86 | 50.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 15 | 8.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 9 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 7 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 6.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Whitwell departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $4,500 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Whitwell sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 34,820 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,836 | 32.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,480 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 2,083 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,080 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,035 | 7.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,018 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,747 | 8.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,560 | 10.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,281 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,167 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,120 | 25.8 mi |
Top 5 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 Whitwell. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Whitwell.
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.