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2025 County Report

Fires in Lauderdale County, TN

In 2025, fire departments serving Lauderdale County responded to 173 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $210K property loss.

9,807 residents FIPS 47097 26 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
173
816 across 5 years
Building fires
36
42 wildland
Property loss
$2.0M
$998K structure · $998K 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 66% of all calls.

173
Total Incidents
Building fires 36 20.8%
Grass fire 25 14.5%
Fires in structures other than in a building 22 12.7%
Passenger vehicle fire 16 9.2%
Fire, other 15 8.7%
All other categories 59 34.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Lauderdale County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 18
Feb 16
Mar 40
Apr 14
May 13
Jun 11
Jul 11
Aug 13
Sep 10
Oct 4
Nov 11
Dec 12
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Lauderdale County

816 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 133
2022 126
2023 169
2024 215
2025 173
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 36 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
35%
28
Cause undetermined
35%
28
Intentional / arson
5%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
6
Under investigation
6%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
12%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $728K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $209,900 RIPLEY Building fires Significant
2 $105,900 Ripley Building fires Significant
3 $75,000 Ripley Building fires Significant
4 $70,000 Ripley Building fires Significant
5 $60,200 Ripley Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 Ripley Building fires Significant
7 $48,500 Ripley Building fires Significant
8 $41,200 Ripley Building fires Significant
9 $36,800 Ripley Building fires Significant
10 $30,000 Ripley Building fires Significant
06 How Lauderdale County compares

Lauderdale County vs TN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

17.64
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Lauderdale County
17.64
TN avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
3.67
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Lauderdale County
3.67
TN avg
1.37
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Lauderdale County
0
TN avg
15
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Lauderdale County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 47097.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Lauderdale County

7 departments report from this county.

City of Ripley Fire Department
Ripley
FDID 49143 100 incidents 17 paid 1 vol
Gates Fire Department
Gates
FDID 49111 39 incidents
Northwest Lauderdale County Fire Department
Ripley
FDID 49861 33 incidents 15 vol
Halls Fire Department
Halls
FDID 49121 30 incidents
West Lauderdale Cnty VFD
Ripley
FDID 49851 13 incidents 14 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.