In 2025, fire departments serving Bridge City responded to 58 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
227 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $416K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 20 | — | |
| 2022 | 32 | — | |
| 2023 | 65 | +103.1% | |
| 2024 | 52 | -20.0% | |
| 2025 | 58 | +11.5% |
* Well below Bridge City'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 9 building fires Bridge City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 42 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 14.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 4 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Other | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 10 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 28.6% |
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 Bridge City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 22 | 52.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 5 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bridge City departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10 | Arcing, shorted electrical equipment | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bridge City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 20,134 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 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,600 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 1,507 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 1,500 | 18.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,178 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 893 | 11.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 886 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 800 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 798 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 725 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 641 | 41.6 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 70094 | 227 |
Six Louisiana cities with population within ±25% of Bridge City. 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.