Home› Counties› TN› White County
2025 County Report

Fires in White County, TN

In 2025, fire departments serving White County responded to 297 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss.

5,966 residents FIPS 47185 25 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
297
2,025 across 5 years
Building fires
25
63 wildland
Property loss
$1.7M
$1.5M structure · $188K contents
Casualties
4 / 0
4 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 49% of all calls.

297
Total Incidents
Aircraft standby 44 14.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 40 13.5%
Building fires 25 8.4%
Fire, other 20 6.7%
Passenger vehicle fire 16 5.4%
All other categories 152 51.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in White County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 48
Feb 37
Mar 65
Apr 34
May 21
Jun 17
Jul 15
Aug 20
Sep 17
Oct 5
Nov 7
Dec 11
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in White County

2,025 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 234
2022 407
2023 571
2024 516
2025 297
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 25 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
54%
44
Cause undetermined
7%
6
Intentional / arson
25%
20
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
7
Under investigation
2%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in White County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 91% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 Quebeck Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
2 $242,000 Sparta Building fires Significant
3 $225,000 Sparta Building fires Significant
4 $200,000 Walling Building fires Significant
5 $150,000 sparta Building fires Significant
6 $75,000 Sparta Building fires Significant
7 $50,000 Walling Building fires Significant
8 $50,000 Sparta Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $32,000 Sparta Building fires Significant
10 $30,000 Sparta Building fires Significant
06 How White County compares

White County vs TN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

49.78
Incidents per 1,000 residents
White County
49.78
TN avg
11.07
US avg
7.15
4.19
Building fires per 1,000 residents
White County
4.19
TN avg
1.37
US avg
0.82
670.5
Civilian fire deaths per million
White County
670.5
TN avg
15
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in White County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 47185.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in White County

10 departments report from this county.

Bon De Croft VFD
Sparta
FDID 93141 70 incidents 18 vol
Doyle Fire Department
Doyle
FDID 93111 66 incidents 11 vol
Sparta Fire Department
Sparta
FDID 93223 53 incidents 6 paid 17 vol
Central View Volunteer Fire Department
Walling
FDID 93131 48 incidents 28 vol
North End Volunteer Fire Department
Sparta
FDID 93181 15 incidents 18 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.