In 2025, fire departments serving Brandon responded to 356 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K 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 57% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,768 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $8.1M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 264 | — | |
| 2022 | 226 | -14.4% | |
| 2023 | 454 | +100.9% | |
| 2024 | 468 | +3.1% | |
| 2025 | 356 | -23.9% |
For the 37 building fires Brandon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 520 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 | 158 | 30.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 72 | 13.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 45 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 41 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 19 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 15 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 12 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 11 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 9 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 128 | 24.6% |
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 Brandon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 249 | 47.9% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 44 | 8.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 34 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 29 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 21 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 19 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 18 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 17 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 9 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 8 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 72 | 13.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Brandon departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $140,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $120,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Brandon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 17,453 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 4,212 | 45.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 4,152 | 29.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 1,001 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 682 | 25.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 600 | 32.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 550 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 510 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 493 | 9.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 486 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 9.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 416 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 13.1 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Brandon. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Brandon.
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.