In 2025, fire departments serving Brinkley responded to 151 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 74% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
489 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $6.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 80 | — | |
| 2022 | 79 | -1.2% | |
| 2023 | 84 | +6.3% | |
| 2024 | 95 | +13.1% | |
| 2025 | 151 | +58.9% |
For the 10 building fires Brinkley departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 417 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 | 203 | 48.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 76 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 33 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 33 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 19 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Other | 8 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 0.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 22 | 5.3% |
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 Brinkley mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 366 | 87.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 9 | 2.2% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 1.7% | |
| 4 | Match | 7 | 1.7% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 1.4% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 6 | 1.4% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 4 | 1.0% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 1.0% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 0.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 0.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 1.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Brinkley departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 78% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Grass fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Brinkley sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,146 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 776 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 441 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 367 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 319 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 282 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 270 | 42.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 255 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 250 | 13.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 239 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 238 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 221 | 10.6 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 Arkansas cities with population within ±25% of Brinkley. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Brinkley.
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.