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2025 County Report

Fires in Bradley County, TN

In 2025, fire departments serving Bradley County responded to 289 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $350K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

64,715 residents FIPS 47011 24 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
289
3,737 across 5 years
Building fires
33
91 wildland
Property loss
$2.8M
$2.2M structure · $563K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.

289
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 36 12.5%
Building fires 33 11.4%
Natural vegetation fire, other 29 10.0%
Authorized controlled burning 23 8.0%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 22 7.6%
All other categories 146 50.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Bradley County?

Mar peaks. Jun dips.

Jan 61
Feb 58
Mar 115
Apr 6
May 1
Jun 0
Jul 1
Aug 1
Sep 0
Oct 4
Nov 42
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Bradley County

3,737 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 692
2022 877
2023 1,016
2024 863
2025 289
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 33 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
42%
62
Cause undetermined
18%
27
Intentional / arson
19%
28
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
9
Under investigation
7%
11
Act of nature (lightning)
8%
10
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Bradley County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 73% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $350,000 CHARLESTON Building fires Major
2 $240,000 CLEVELAND Building fires Significant
3 $200,000 Cleveland Building fires Significant
4 $150,000 CLEVELAND Building fires Significant
5 $150,000 CLEVELAND Building fires Significant
6 $125,000 CLEVELAND Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 CLEVELAND Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 CLEVELAND Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 CLEVELAND Building fires Significant
10 $100,000 CLEVELAND Building fires Significant
06 How Bradley County compares

Bradley County vs TN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.47
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Bradley County
4.47
TN avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
0.51
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Bradley County
0.51
TN avg
1.37
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Bradley County
0
TN avg
15
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Bradley County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 47011.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Bradley County

2 departments report from this county.

Bradley County Fire Rescue
Cleveland
FDID 06711 237 incidents 27 paid 100 vol
Cleveland Fire Dept
Cleveland
FDID 06312 52 incidents 92 paid
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.