In 2025, fire departments serving Amory responded to 130 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
515 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 69 | — | |
| 2022* | 45 | — | |
| 2023 | 152 | — | |
| 2024 | 119 | -21.7% | |
| 2025 | 130 | +9.2% |
* Well below Amory's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 18 building fires Amory departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 143 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 | 51 | 35.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 21 | 14.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 6.3% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Wall assembly | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 31 | 21.7% |
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 Amory mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 92 | 64.3% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 7 | 4.9% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 4.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Amory departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $4,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $3,500 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $3,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Amory sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,271 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Smoking | 1,620 | 10.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 608 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 453 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 39.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 425 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 420 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 400 | 49.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 366 | 23.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 355 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 47.7 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 38821 | 515 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Amory. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Amory.
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.