Fire Fatalities and Mortality Rate In Tennessee

As of January 20, 2023, 89 accidental or undetermined civilian structure fire fatalities have been reported for 2022. 

Year-to-date: How do this year's unintentional fire fatalities compare to previous years? 

Location of Tennessee's unintentional fire fatalities from 2015-2021:

What is Fire Mortality? 
Experts measure progress over time by utilizing mortality rates of fire deaths. This method also takes into account population changes over time to measure the number of fire deaths proportional to a population. The Tennessee State Fire Marshal's Office focuses on unintentional, residential fire deaths when it comes to measuring the fire mortality rate. 

Tennessee now 11th in the Nation

Tennessee historically has had a high fire mortality rate along with many other southern states. In fact, 9 of the top 10 highest fire mortality states are located in the U.S. Census Southern Regions. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) reported Tennessee’s 2006-2010 fire mortality rate to be 19.3 deaths per million, which means for every 1 million people in Tennessee, 19.3 deaths occur annually. The 19.3 deaths per million rate gave Tennessee the nation’s 8th highest fire mortality rate in 2010.

In 2017, NFPA released an updated report on the nation's fire mortality rates. Tennessee's fire mortality rate dropped from 19.3 deaths per million (2006-2010) to 14.6 deaths per million (2011-2015), a 24% reduction.  This is the single largest reduction in fire mortality rate in Tennessee’s recorded history. In addition, Tennessee's ranking among the nation's fire mortality rates dropped from 8th to 11th. 

Our Response: Focused Fire Prevention
We are aggressively battling the Tennessee fire mortality rate by bringing the best minds together from the fire service, industry, and strategic partnership organizations to assist us in the targeting, education, and installation of life saving devices for vulnerable populations in Tennessee.

• Fire Mortality Study: Identifies and forecasts unintentional fire deaths using census Tennessee tracts. 
  2002-2010 Original Fire Mortality Study [pdf]
  2010-2013 Updated Fire Mortality Study pdf]
• Fire Loss Symposium: Annually, leaders from the fire service come together to discuss Tennessee's fire loss problem. The goal of this symposium is to discuss recent trends and collaborate on possible solutions. 
  2014 Fire Mortality Rate Prezi Presentation
• Get Alarmed, TN!: Provides smoke alarms to fire departments that protect high risk populations.  More information
• Our Success so Far:
  • From 2011-2015, reported structure fires have decreased by 20.6%.
  • Tennessee has observed the largest reduction in the fire mortality rate in our state’s recorded history, according to both state and national measurements¹.
  • The "Get Alarmed, TN" smoke alarm program has documented hundreds of lives saved. Click here for more info. 

¹ 1980 was the first date available to effectively measure fire mortality (fire deaths and population)