In 2025, fire departments serving Boutte responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 77% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
104 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $55K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022* | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 25 | — | |
| 2024 | 39 | +56.0% | |
| 2025 | 17 | -56.4% |
* Well below Boutte'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 0 building fires Boutte departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 29 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 | 6 | 20.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 5 | 17.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 13.8% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 13.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 7 | Other | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 6.9% |
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 Boutte mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 17 | 58.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Match | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 3.4% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Boutte sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,951 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,922 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 1,500 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 893 | 10.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 800 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 725 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 614 | 34.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 570 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 550 | 43.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 520 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 424 | 38.9 mi |
Top 4 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 Boutte. 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.