Home› Counties› TN› Wayne County
2025 County Report

Fires in Wayne County, TN

In 2025, fire departments serving Wayne County responded to 129 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $180K property loss.

6,225 residents FIPS 47181 21 cities · 12 fire depts
Total incidents
129
471 across 5 years
Building fires
19
30 wildland
Property loss
$1.3M
$997K structure · $350K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Aircraft standby lead by count. Top five categories make up about 79% of all calls.

129
Total Incidents
Aircraft standby 54 41.9%
Building fires 19 14.7%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 14 10.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 8 6.2%
Grass fire 7 5.4%
All other categories 27 20.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Wayne County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 8
Feb 8
Mar 28
Apr 10
May 7
Jun 11
Jul 14
Aug 14
Sep 10
Oct 4
Nov 10
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Wayne County

471 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 84
2022 114
2023 59
2024 85
2025 129
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 19 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
73%
24
Cause undetermined
6%
2
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
4
Under investigation
6%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $888K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Wayne County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 89% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $179,900 Collinwood Building fires Significant
2 $125,000 Cypress Inn Building fires Significant
3 $100,000 Cypress Inn Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
4 $96,400 Waynesboro Building fires Significant
5 $96,400 Waynesboro Building fires Significant
6 $86,500 Waynesboro Building fires Significant
7 $79,100 Cypress Inn Building fires Significant
8 $52,400 Waynesboro Building fires Significant
9 $52,400 Waynesboro Building fires Significant
10 $20,000 Cypress Inn Building fires Significant
06 How Wayne County compares

Wayne County vs TN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

20.72
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Wayne County
20.72
TN avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
3.05
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Wayne County
3.05
TN avg
1.37
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Wayne County
0
TN avg
15
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Wayne County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 47181.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Wayne County

12 departments report from this county.

Clifton VFD
Clifton
FDID 91611 42 incidents 15 vol
Southgate Volunteer Fire Department
Iron City
FDID 91511 39 incidents 15 vol
Cypress Inn Volunteer Fire Department
Cypress Inn
FDID 91601 26 incidents 15 vol
Holly Creek Volunteer Fire Department
Iron City
FDID 91851 21 incidents 15 vol
Ovilla Volunteer Fire Department
Lawrenceburg
FDID 91841 14 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.