In 2025, fire departments serving Baton Rouge responded to 1,873 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 55% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
11,078 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $131.1M cumulative property loss. 9 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2,421 | — | |
| 2022 | 2,165 | -10.6% | |
| 2023 | 2,350 | +8.5% | |
| 2024 | 2,269 | -3.4% | |
| 2025 | 1,873 | -17.5% |
For the 301 building fires Baton Rouge departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 4,439 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 655 | 14.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 493 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 477 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 404 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 270 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 208 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 161 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Other | 116 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 107 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 101 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1,447 | 32.6% |
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 Baton Rouge mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 1,883 | 42.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 444 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 385 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 343 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 188 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 175 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 108 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 104 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 92 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 78 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 639 | 14.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Baton Rouge departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 19% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $347,793 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 8 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Baton Rouge sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
66 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 7 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 7 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,589 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 258 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 235 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 230 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 200 | 33.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 22.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 192 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 170 | 42.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 160 | 30.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 158 | 47.9 mi |
Top 10 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 Baton Rouge. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Baton Rouge.
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.