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2025 State Fire Report

Fires in Tennessee

In 2025, fire departments across Tennessee responded to 49,311 fire and hazmat incidents — including the Chimney Tops 2 wildfire that burned 15,643 acres in 2016.

4,456,299 residents 95 counties 3,418 reporting cities

National context

Where Tennessee sits

Tennessee ranks #30 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.

<100k100k+1M+5M+15M+ None on record

Total acres burned (NIFC perimeter history)

Total incidents

49,311

270,586 across 5 years

Building fires

6,100

12.4% of all incidents

Wildland fires

7,388

10 historical perimeters on record

Casualties

67 / 220

67 civ deaths · 111 civ inj · 109 ff inj

01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen in Tennessee?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 42% of all calls.

49,311

Total Incidents

Building fires 6,100 12.4%

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 4,064 8.2%

Power line down 3,938 8.0%

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 3,403 6.9%

Passenger vehicle fire 3,253 6.6%

All other categories 28,553 57.9%

02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

Mar peaks. Dec dips. (Latest year: 2025.)

Jan 4,359

Feb 4,334

Mar 8,146

Apr 5,108

May 3,707

Jun 3,801

Jul 4,308

Aug 3,848

Sep 3,392

Oct 2,828

Nov 2,943

Dec 2,537

03 Smoothed seasonality

Average monthly fires 2021–2025

5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Mar peaks across the window; Sep dips.

Jan 20,902

Feb 22,917

Mar 31,141

Apr 23,881

May 20,509

Jun 22,112

Jul 23,992

Aug 20,285

Sep 19,566

Oct 21,368

Nov 23,759

Dec 20,154

04 Five-year trend

Year over year in Tennessee

270,586 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.

Year	Incidents
2021	47,448
2022	57,567
2023	60,741
2024	55,519
2025	49,311

05 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires in Tennessee?

For the 6,100 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional

47%

7,543

Cause undetermined

18%

2,898

Intentional / arson

13%

2,130

Equipment / heat source failure

10%

1,556

Under investigation

1,143

Act of nature (lightning)

485

5b Causes by category

Top ignition causes in Tennessee

Combined NFIRS + FPA-FOD totals across the available reporting window. Click a cause to see how it plays out nationwide.

#	Cause	Incidents	FOD vs NFIRS	Acres
1	Undetermined / missing	26,888	3,275 / 23,613	88,567
2	Arson / incendiarism	25,610	12,112 / 13,498	324,731
3	Debris & open burning	13,585	13,585 / 0	99,098
4	Equipment & vehicle use	12,212	1,974 / 10,238	13,049
5	Natural (lightning)	2,893	508 / 2,385	18,187
6	Other causes	1,553	416 / 1,137	1,962
7	Smoking	801	801 / 0	5,738
8	Recreation & ceremony	575	575 / 0	11,141
9	Power generation / utility	432	432 / 0	7,124
10	Misuse of fire by a minor	390	390 / 0	18,572
11	Railroad operations	328	328 / 0	9,325
12	Fireworks	135	135 / 0	500

5c Topics

Cross-cutting fire topics in Tennessee

Topical groupings of NFIRS incident types — building, cooking, electrical, vehicle, and more. Each links to its national rollup.

#	Topic	Incidents	Loss	Deaths
1	Outdoor fires	70,260	$14.1M	9
2	Building fires	57,589	$1.3B	457
3	Wildland fires	39,786	$11.8M	8
4	Electrical / wiring	39,126	$1.6M	0
5	Gas leaks	29,238	$1.3M	0
6	Vehicle fires	27,234	$240.3M	74
7	Rubbish / refuse	25,608	$7.1M	1
8	Cooking-related	8,279	$1.9M	0
9	Arson	5,448	$36.5M	11

06 The biggest fires

10 fires · $63.9M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 17% of Tennessee's total.

#	Property loss	City	Type	Severity
1	$21,250,000	Nashville	Fires in structures other than in a building	Catastrophic
2	$11,762,000	MORRISTOWN	Building fires	Catastrophic
3	$7,000,000	Bristol	Building fires	Catastrophic
4	$6,000,000	Counce	Building fires	Catastrophic
5	$4,465,500	Nashville	Building fires	Major
6	$3,000,000	FRANKLIN	Building fires	Major
7	$2,642,940	GALLATIN	Building fires	Major
8	$2,630,500	Nashville	Building fires	Major
9	$2,619,900	Nashville	Building fires	Major
10	$2,500,000	Jefferson City	Building fires	Major

07 How Tennessee compares

Tennessee vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare Tennessee apples-to-apples to the national average.

11.07

Incidents per 1,000 residents

11.07

US avg

7.48

1.37

Building fires per 1,000 residents

1.37

US avg

0.85

Civilian fire deaths per million

US avg

5.9

08 Cities

Top cities in Tennessee

12 largest reporting cities by population.

Nashville B+

4,557 incidents 251 building $68.3M loss

Memphis B

4,779 incidents 536 building $29.9M loss

Knoxville B-

1,921 incidents 93 building $8.3M loss

Chattanooga B-

1,880 incidents 135 building $10.2M loss

Clarksville B

1,396 incidents 158 building $10.6M loss

Murfreesboro B

980 incidents 80 building $8.2M loss

Franklin B+

719 incidents 81 building $9.1M loss

Johnson City B

728 incidents 76 building $2.0M loss

Jackson B

602 incidents 57 building $3.0M loss

Hendersonville B+

478 incidents 27 building $3.3M loss

Bartlett A

216 incidents 25 building $1.3M loss

Kingsport B-

625 incidents 88 building $4.7M loss

09 Counties

Top counties in Tennessee

Top 10 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.

#	County	Incidents	Population
1	Davidson County	5,955	698,585
2	Shelby County	5,921	818,483
3	Hamilton County	2,940	289,297
4	Knox County	2,242	247,131
5	Rutherford County	1,968	253,343
6	Sumner County	1,622	152,968
7	Montgomery County	1,484	167,882
8	Sullivan County	1,245	104,790
9	Williamson County	1,225	159,849
10	Washington County	1,191	89,289

10 Per-capita

Highest fire rates by county

Top 10 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.

#	County	Inc / 1k	Incidents	Population
1	Blount County	13.99	793	56,673
2	Washington County	13.34	1,191	89,289
3	Sullivan County	11.88	1,245	104,790
4	Sumner County	10.60	1,622	152,968
5	Wilson County	10.36	956	92,272
6	Hamilton County	10.16	2,940	289,297
7	Maury County	9.46	933	98,574
8	Madison County	9.18	651	70,929
9	Knox County	9.07	2,242	247,131
10	Montgomery County	8.84	1,484	167,882

11 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Tennessee

By incident count in 2025.

Nashville Fire Department

Nashville

FDID 19532 5,976 incidents 1,571 paid

Memphis Fire Services

Memphis

FDID 79553 4,492 incidents 1,850 paid

Chattanooga Fire Department

Chattanooga

FDID 33512 1,857 incidents 412 paid

Knoxville Fire Dept

Knoxville

FDID 47522 1,249 incidents 342 paid

Clarksville Fire Rescue

Clarksville

FDID 63412 1,212 incidents 188 paid

12 Largest fires on record

Top 10 wildfires in Tennessee history

By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.

#	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

13 Decade by decade

Wildfire perimeters in Tennessee, by decade

309 perimeters and 62,671 acres recorded since 1900.

Decade	Fires	Acres
1940s	31	1,271
1950s	20	758
1960s	10	205
1970s	29	1,251
1980s	50	5,643
1990s	21	799
2000s	42	19,121
2010s	62	26,646
2020s	44	6,977

14 Cause shift over time

How wildfire causes have shifted in Tennessee

FPA-FOD ignitions by decade, broken down by cause category. Each row sums to the decade's total; the bars show the share each cause contributed.

Decade	Total fires	Share by cause
1990s	7,039
2000s	17,302
2010s	9,805
2020s	385

Debris and open burning Arson/incendiarism Missing data/not specified/undetermined Equipment and vehicle use Smoking Recreation and ceremony Natural Other

15 Wildfire seasonality

When wildfires ignite in Tennessee

FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 34,531 ignitions total.

Jan 1,672

Feb 3,740

Mar 7,472

Apr 5,137

May 1,103

Jun 979

Jul 908

Aug 1,629

Sep 2,487

Oct 3,384

Nov 4,656

Dec 1,364

16 Who gets hurt

Casualty demographics in Tennessee

1,978 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 5-year window. Age and gender are coarse-binned for privacy.

Age	Count
0-9	89
10-19	103
20-29	272
30-39	322
40-49	272
50-59	308
60-69	233
70-79	139
80+	86

Civilian vs firefighter

Civilian 1,381 FF 597

Gender

M 1,403 F 575 Unk 0

Severity (1=minor → 5=fatal)

495

351

277

242

563

About this data

State totals reflect incidents reported by fire departments to NFIRS for 2025. The 5-year totals span 2021 through 2025. Wildfire perimeters and decade-by-decade counts are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History service. NFIRS reporting is voluntary, so totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.