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2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in Bloomingdale, Georgia

In 2025, fire departments serving Bloomingdale responded to 50 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K building blaze. Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade C Peak yr 2021 Chatham County 2,933 residents 0 reporting departments 481 5-yr

Incomplete 2025 data. Bloomingdale's departments reported 50 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 96 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.

Total incidents
50
Not comparable with 2024 (incomplete reporting)
Building fires
7
Residential 57% Other 43%
Property loss
$20K
$15K structure · $5K contents
Deaths & injuries
0 / 0
0 civilian deaths · 0 civ injuries · 0 firefighter injuries
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.

50
Total Incidents
Building fires 7 14.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 7 14.0%
Passenger vehicle fire 5 10.0%
Grass fire 4 8.0%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 4 8.0%
All other categories 23 46.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.

Jan 6
Feb 7
Mar 11
Apr 1
May 4
Jun 4
Jul 3
Aug 1
Sep 3
Oct 2
Nov 8
Dec 0
Fewer
More
2b Five-year trend

Year over year in Bloomingdale

481 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.0M cumulative property loss.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021 130 —
2022 110 -15.4%
2023 83 -24.5%
2024 108 +30.1%
2025* 50 —

* Well below Bloomingdale'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.

03 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 7 building fires Bloomingdale departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
46%
16
Cause undetermined
3%
1
Intentional / arson
31%
11
Equipment / heat source failure
20%
7
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in Bloomingdale?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 255 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 originCountShare 
1 Outside area, other 58 22.7%
2 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 43 16.9%
3 Undetermined 33 12.9%
4 Open area - outside; included are farmland, field 27 10.6%
5 Wildland, woods 15 5.9%
6 Exterior, exposed surface 12 4.7%
7 Highway, parking lot, street: on or near 10 3.9%
8 Cooking area, kitchen 9 3.5%
9 Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison 4 1.6%
10 Other 3 1.2%
11 All other areas 41 16.1%
3c What ignited it

What actually ignited the fire?

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 Bloomingdale mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 111 43.5%
2 Cigarette lighter 20 7.8%
3 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 19 7.5%
4 Hot ember or ash 19 7.5%
5 Heat source: other 14 5.5%
6 Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment 13 5.1%
7 Arcing 11 4.3%
8 Heat, spark from friction 9 3.5%
9 Flame/torch used for lighting 5 2.0%
10 Match 4 1.6%
11 All other sources 30 11.8%
04 The biggest fires

1 fires · $15K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bloomingdale departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.

# Property loss Type Severity Status
1 $15,000 Building fires Significant Investigated
05 How Bloomingdale compares

Bloomingdale vs Georgia vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bloomingdale sits above the national average for incidents per resident.

17.05
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Bloomingdale
17.05
GA avg
2.99
US avg
7.48
2.39
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Bloomingdale
2.39
GA avg
0.27
US avg
0.85
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Bloomingdale
0
GA avg
3.8
US avg
5.9
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of Bloomingdale

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 22,215 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.

50 mi radius
YearCauseAcresDistance 
2011 Debris and open burning 4,035 36.3 mi
2007 Debris and open burning 1,742 40.0 mi
1994 Debris and open burning 1,245 13.4 mi
1998 Natural 1,080 45.8 mi
2007 Natural 1,076 25.7 mi
2016 Debris and open burning 1,016 13.7 mi
2011 Arson/incendiarism 963 48.8 mi
2000 Railroad operations and maintenance 916 9.5 mi
1999 Debris and open burning 827 15.4 mi
2011 Natural 791 29.1 mi
1999 Railroad operations and maintenance 789 28.1 mi
1994 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 761 14.6 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in Bloomingdale do fires concentrate?

Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.

#ZIP5-yr incidents 
1 31302 476
2 31312 3
3 31303 1
4 31322 1
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to Bloomingdale

Six Georgia cities with population within ±25% of Bloomingdale. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.

07 Stay prepared

Before the next Red Flag day.

A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.

About this data

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.