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2025 County Report

Fires in Claiborne County, TN

In 2025, fire departments serving Claiborne County responded to 179 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $105K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

9,734 residents FIPS 47025 48 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
179
1,271 across 5 years
Building fires
38
38 wildland
Property loss
$631K
$274K structure · $358K contents
Casualties
3 / 0
3 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 55% of all calls.

179
Total Incidents
Building fires 38 21.2%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 21 11.7%
Fire, other 16 8.9%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 13 7.3%
Passenger vehicle fire 11 6.1%
All other categories 80 44.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Claiborne County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 8
Feb 19
Mar 38
Apr 17
May 12
Jun 14
Jul 16
Aug 19
Sep 17
Oct 6
Nov 8
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Claiborne County

1,271 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 220
2022 331
2023 302
2024 239
2025 179
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 38 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
36%
27
Cause undetermined
19%
14
Intentional / arson
18%
13
Equipment / heat source failure
5%
4
Under investigation
15%
11
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $268K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Claiborne County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 98% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $104,500 speedwell Building fires Significant
2 $45,000 New Tazewell Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
3 $30,000 New Tazewell Building fires Significant
4 $25,000 HARROGATE Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $20,000 Harrogate Building fires Significant
6 $20,000 Harrogate Building fires Significant
7 $10,000 Clairfield Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
8 $5,000 New Tazewell Building fires Significant
9 $5,000 New Tazewell Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $3,000 New Tazewell Building fires Significant
06 How Claiborne County compares

Claiborne County vs TN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

18.39
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Claiborne County
18.39
TN avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
3.9
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Claiborne County
3.9
TN avg
1.37
US avg
0.82
308.2
Civilian fire deaths per million
Claiborne County
308.2
TN avg
15
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Claiborne County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 47025.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Claiborne County

9 departments report from this county.

North Tazewell VFD
Tazewell
FDID 13161 50 incidents 8 vol
South Claiborne Volunteer Fire Department
New Tazewell
FDID 13141 38 incidents 30 vol
Tazewell New Tazewell FD
Tazewell
FDID 13121 29 incidents 1 paid
Speedwell Volunteer Fire Department
Speedwell
FDID 13281 24 incidents 20 vol
Harrogate Volunteer Fire Department
Harrogate
FDID 13171 10 incidents 22 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.