In 2025, fire departments serving Monroe County responded to 511 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips.
2,695 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 382 | |
| 2022 | 542 | |
| 2023 | 629 | |
| 2024 | 631 | |
| 2025 | 511 |
For the 110 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Monroe County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 82% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Sweetwater | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $144,000 | Tellico Plains | Building fires | Significant |
| 3 | $100,000 | Sweetwater | Building fires | Significant |
| 4 | $90,900 | Tellico Plains | Building fires | Significant |
| 5 | $85,000 | Vonore | Building fires | Significant |
| 6 | $75,000 | MADISONVILLE | Building fires | Significant |
| 7 | $60,000 | MADISONVILLE | Building fires | Significant |
| 8 | $50,000 | Sweetwater | Building fires | Significant |
| 9 | $40,000 | Madisonville | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant |
| 10 | $30,000 | Tellico Plains | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 47123.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Sweetwater | 6,310 | View › |
| Madisonville | 5,120 | View › |
| Vonore | 1,730 | View › |
| Tellico Plains | 1,275 | View › |
| Kahite | 529 | View › |
| Coker Creek | 45 | View › |
| Rocky Spring | 0 | View › |
| Rarity Bay | 0 | View › |
| Cataska | 0 | View › |
| Wood | 0 | View › |
| Big Creek | 0 | View › |
| Waucheesi | 0 | View › |
18 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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.