In 2025, fire departments serving Ashdown responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $155K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Ashdown's departments reported 21 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 48 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
239 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 75 | — | |
| 2022 | 74 | -1.3% | |
| 2023 | 46 | -37.8% | |
| 2024* | 23 | — | |
| 2025* | 21 | — |
* Well below Ashdown'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 3 building fires Ashdown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 111 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 | Outside area, other | 22 | 19.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 19 | 17.1% | |
| 3 | Other | 16 | 14.4% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 16 | 14.4% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 16 | 14.4% |
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 Ashdown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 51 | 45.9% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 9.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 9 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 7 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Match | 5 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 10 | 9.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ashdown departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $155,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $155,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $99,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $32,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $6,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ashdown sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 27,341 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 9,071 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,850 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,550 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,540 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,299 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,162 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 900 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 873 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 740 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 665 | 28.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 640 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 600 | 38.5 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Arkansas cities with population within ±25% of Ashdown. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.