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2025 County Report

Fires in Benton County, TN

In 2025, fire departments serving Benton County responded to 101 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.

4,459 residents FIPS 47005 23 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
101
573 across 5 years
Building fires
26
23 wildland
Property loss
$1.6M
$992K structure · $571K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.

101
Total Incidents
Building fires 26 25.7%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 12 11.9%
Fire, other 9 8.9%
Grass fire 7 6.9%
Passenger vehicle fire 6 5.9%
All other categories 41 40.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Benton County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 18
Feb 5
Mar 19
Apr 7
May 6
Jun 7
Jul 8
Aug 9
Sep 6
Oct 5
Nov 7
Dec 4
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Benton County

573 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 134
2022 141
2023 109
2024 88
2025 101
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 26 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
57%
23
Cause undetermined
12%
5
Intentional / arson
2%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
4
Under investigation
10%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
9%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $791K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Benton County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 80% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 Camden Building fires Significant
2 $200,000 Camden Building fires Significant
3 $120,000 Camden Building fires Significant
4 $55,000 Big Sandy Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
5 $50,000 Camden Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle Significant
6 $45,000 Camden Building fires Significant
7 $40,000 Camden Building fires Significant
8 $29,000 Big Sandy Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire Significant
9 $26,000 Big Sandy Building fires Significant
10 $26,000 Big Sandy Building fires Significant
06 How Benton County compares

Benton County vs TN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

22.65
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Benton County
22.65
TN avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
5.83
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Benton County
5.83
TN avg
1.37
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Benton County
0
TN avg
15
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Benton County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 47005.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Benton County

8 departments report from this county.

Big Sandy Volunteer Fire Department
Big Sandy
FDID 03111 40 incidents 30 vol
City of Camden Fire Department
Camden
FDID 03122 21 incidents 1 paid
Sandy River VFD
Camden
FDID 03861 16 incidents
Chalk Level VFD
Camden
FDID 03851 12 incidents 20 vol
Eva Volunteer Fire Department
Eva
FDID 03631 7 incidents 37 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in TN

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Chimney Tops 2 2016 NPS 15,642
2 SHARP 2001 NPS 6,705
3 Halls Top 2016 USFS 2,462
4 GREEN MTN 2001 NPS 2,287
5 DARROW RDG 2000 NPS 2,265
6 Stony Ridge 2009 NPS 2,191
7 LAUREL RDG 1987 NPS 1,969
8 Railroad Grade 2016 USFS 1,746
9 SHOP 1988 NPS 1,303
10 State Line 2016 USFS 1,238

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.