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2025 County Report

Fires in Johnson County, TN

In 2025, fire departments serving Johnson County responded to 136 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

2,647 residents FIPS 47091 26 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
136
717 across 5 years
Building fires
35
46 wildland
Property loss
$1.8M
$1.3M structure · $513K contents
Casualties
1 / 0
1 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 67% of all calls.

136
Total Incidents
Building fires 35 25.7%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 31 22.8%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 11 8.1%
Authorized controlled burning 8 5.9%
Fires in structures other than in a building 6 4.4%
All other categories 45 33.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Johnson County?

Mar peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 28
Feb 6
Mar 37
Apr 15
May 10
Jun 6
Jul 3
Aug 10
Sep 2
Oct 3
Nov 6
Dec 10
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Johnson County

717 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 151
2022 127
2023 130
2024 173
2025 136
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 35 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
27%
9
Cause undetermined
18%
6
Intentional / arson
9%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
27%
9
Under investigation
15%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Johnson County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 89% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 Butler Building fires Major
2 $200,000 Butler Fire, other Significant
3 $100,000 Mountain city Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
4 $87,400 Mountain City Building fires Significant
5 $87,400 Mountain City Building fires Significant
6 $80,000 Mountain City Building fires Significant
7 $75,000 Mountain City Building fires Significant
8 $73,800 Mountain City Building fires Significant
9 $70,000 Butler Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
10 $50,000 Shady Valley Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
06 How Johnson County compares

Johnson County vs TN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

51.38
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Johnson County
51.38
TN avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
13.22
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Johnson County
13.22
TN avg
1.37
US avg
0.82
377.8
Civilian fire deaths per million
Johnson County
377.8
TN avg
15
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Johnson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 47091.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Johnson County

9 departments report from this county.

Shady Valley Volunteer Fire Department
Shady Valley
FDID 46131 27 incidents 21 vol
Butler Volunteer Fire Department
Butler
FDID 46181 21 incidents 17 vol
Second District Volunteer Fire Department
Mountain City
FDID 46141 19 incidents 18 vol
Doe Valley Volunteer Fire Department
Mountain City
FDID 46161 15 incidents 23 vol
Neva Volunteer Fire Department
Mountain City
FDID 46101 12 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.