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2025 County Report

Fires in Putnam County, TN

In 2025, fire departments serving Putnam County responded to 391 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $400K property loss.

43,139 residents FIPS 47141 25 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
391
2,984 across 5 years
Building fires
37
79 wildland
Property loss
$2.2M
$1.6M structure · $586K contents
Casualties
0 / 4
0 civ deaths · 3 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 46% of all calls.

391
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 47 12.0%
Building fires 37 9.5%
Unauthorized burning 33 8.4%
Passenger vehicle fire 32 8.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 31 7.9%
All other categories 211 54.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Putnam County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 32
Feb 52
Mar 88
Apr 34
May 30
Jun 21
Jul 29
Aug 20
Sep 25
Oct 32
Nov 22
Dec 6
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Putnam County

2,984 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 491
2022 773
2023 750
2024 579
2025 391
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 37 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
53%
65
Cause undetermined
15%
18
Intentional / arson
13%
16
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
14
Under investigation
3%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Putnam County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 87% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $400,000 Bloomington springs Building fires Major
2 $300,000 COOKEVILLE Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
3 $250,000 COOKEVILLE Building fires Major
4 $125,000 Cookeville Building fires Significant
5 $75,000 MONTEREY Building fires Significant
6 $70,000 COOKEVILLE Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $50,000 MONTEREY Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
8 $40,000 Monterey Building fires Significant
9 $40,000 Cookeville Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $30,000 Baxter Building fires Significant
06 How Putnam County compares

Putnam County vs TN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.06
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Putnam County
9.06
TN avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
0.86
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Putnam County
0.86
TN avg
1.37
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Putnam County
0
TN avg
15
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Putnam County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 47141.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Putnam County

5 departments report from this county.

Cookeville Fire Dept
Cookeville
FDID 71333 229 incidents 58 paid
Baxter Volunteer Fire Department
Baxter
FDID 71123 38 incidents 10 paid 27 vol
Monterey Volunteer Fire Department
Monterey
FDID 71141 25 incidents 13 vol
Algood Fire Department
Algood
FDID 71111 16 incidents 26 vol
Putnam Cnty VFD
Cookeville
FDID 71751 0 incidents 3 paid
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.