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2025 County Report

Fires in Macon County, TN

In 2025, fire departments serving Macon County responded to 94 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.5M property loss.

6,902 residents FIPS 47111 42 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
94
501 across 5 years
Building fires
18
18 wildland
Property loss
$2.8M
$2.7M structure · $125K 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 49% of all calls.

94
Total Incidents
Building fires 18 19.1%
Aircraft standby 9 9.6%
Fire, other 7 7.4%
Grass fire 6 6.4%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 6 6.4%
All other categories 48 51.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Macon County?

Dec peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 11
Feb 7
Mar 13
Apr 8
May 4
Jun 7
Jul 8
Aug 6
Sep 6
Oct 3
Nov 6
Dec 15
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Macon County

501 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 77
2022 113
2023 126
2024 91
2025 94
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 18 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
54%
29
Cause undetermined
24%
13
Intentional / arson
7%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
3
Under investigation
6%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.7M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Macon County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,500,000 Lafayette Building fires Major
2 $743,500 Red Boiling Springs Building fires Major
3 $200,000 Red Boiling Springs Building fires Significant
4 $75,000 Westmorland Building fires Significant
5 $70,000 Lafayette Fire, other Significant
6 $50,000 Red Boiling Springs Building fires Significant
7 $25,000 Lafayette Building fires Significant
8 $20,000 Red Boiling Springs Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
9 $12,900 Red Boiling Springs Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
10 $5,000 Red Boiling Springs Fire, other Significant
06 How Macon County compares

Macon County vs TN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.62
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Macon County
13.62
TN avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
2.61
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Macon County
2.61
TN avg
1.37
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Macon County
0
TN avg
15
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Macon County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 47111.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Macon County

3 departments report from this county.

Lafayette Fire Department
Lafayette
FDID 56123 52 incidents 5 paid
Red Boiling Springs Fire Department
Red Boiling Springs
FDID 56131 43 incidents 30 vol
Willette Volunteer Fire Department
Red Boiling Springs
FDID 56711 0 incidents
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.