In 2025, fire departments serving Bentonville responded to 384 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $900K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 41% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,298 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $16.9M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 461 | — | |
| 2022 | 493 | +6.9% | |
| 2023 | 350 | -29.0% | |
| 2024 | 610 | +74.3% | |
| 2025 | 384 | -37.0% |
For the 24 building fires Bentonville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 648 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 | 106 | 16.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 95 | 14.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 89 | 13.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 73 | 11.3% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 33 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 25 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 20 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 19 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Other | 18 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 15 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 155 | 23.9% |
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 Bentonville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 318 | 49.1% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 46 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 31 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 30 | 4.6% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 26 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 25 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 18 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 16 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 16 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 14 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 108 | 16.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bentonville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 78% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $900,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $450,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $300,000 | Outside equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $110,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $110,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bentonville sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
10 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 42,472 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,050 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,800 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,285 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,580 | 35.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,310 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,108 | 46.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 2,085 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 42.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,900 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,850 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,500 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 40.1 mi |
Top 5 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 Bentonville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bentonville.
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.