In 2025, fire departments serving Bay responded to 39 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $525K 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 72% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
152 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 36 | — | |
| 2022 | 27 | -25.0% | |
| 2023 | 41 | +51.9% | |
| 2024* | 9 | — | |
| 2025 | 39 | — |
* Well below Bay'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 5 building fires Bay departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 90 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 | 56.7% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Wall assembly | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Other | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 10 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 5.6% |
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 Bay mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 64 | 71.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 7 | 7.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 4.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 4 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 1.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bay departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $525,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $600 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bay sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,507 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 | 450 | 18.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 278 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 203 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 195 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 180 | 36.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 174 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 159 | 23.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 139 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 125 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 125 | 30.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 31.2 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 Bay. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bay.
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.