In 2025, fire departments serving Sullivan County responded to 1,245 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $7.0M property loss.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 46% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips.
6,412 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,064 | |
| 2022 | 1,324 | |
| 2023 | 1,450 | |
| 2024 | 1,329 | |
| 2025 | 1,245 |
For the 184 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Sullivan County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 74% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $7,000,000 | Bristol | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 2 | $1,000,000 | Colonial Hgts | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $825,000 | Kingsport | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $357,100 | BLUFF CITY | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $300,000 | KINGSPORT | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $300,000 | Kingsport | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $250,000 | KINGSPORT | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $250,000 | Kingsport | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $200,000 | Kingsport | Building fires | Significant |
| 10 | $200,000 | Kingsport | Building fires | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 47163.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Kingsport | 55,415 | View › |
| Bristol | 27,307 | View › |
| Bloomingdale | 8,946 | View › |
| Blountville | 3,265 | View › |
| Colonial Heights | 2,667 | View › |
| Walnut Hill | 2,648 | View › |
| Bluff City | 2,261 | View › |
| Sullivan Gardens | 1,439 | View › |
| Orebank | 842 | View › |
| Beechnut City | 0 | View › |
| Gross Crossroad | 0 | View › |
| Piney Flats | 0 | View › |
12 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.