In 2025, fire departments serving Abbeville responded to 206 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
921 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.3M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 154 | — | |
| 2022 | 154 | +0.0% | |
| 2023 | 168 | +9.1% | |
| 2024 | 239 | +42.3% | |
| 2025 | 206 | -13.8% |
For the 50 building fires Abbeville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 314 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 138 | 43.9% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 32 | 10.2% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 24 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 24 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 14 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Other | 13 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 11 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 9 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 34 | 10.8% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Abbeville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 225 | 71.7% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 23 | 7.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 5.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 1.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 1.3% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 1.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 3 | 1.0% | |
| 9 | Match | 3 | 1.0% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 17 | 5.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Abbeville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 94% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Abbeville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,363 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 2,504 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,154 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,100 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 836 | 42.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 700 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 327 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 308 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 263 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 216 | 48.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 200 | 44.9 mi |
Top 7 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Louisiana cities with population within ±25% of Abbeville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Abbeville.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.