In 2025, fire departments serving Byram responded to 74 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $320K 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.
May peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
360 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 57 | — | |
| 2022* | 32 | — | |
| 2023 | 104 | — | |
| 2024 | 93 | -10.6% | |
| 2025 | 74 | -20.4% |
* Well below Byram'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 Byram departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 89 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 | 22 | 24.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 15.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 13.5% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 5 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Other | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Office | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 16 | 18.0% |
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 Byram mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 36 | 40.4% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 10 | 11.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 12 | 13.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Byram departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $320,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Byram sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,569 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 4,152 | 14.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 1,001 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 682 | 39.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 600 | 47.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 550 | 20.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 510 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 493 | 25.5 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 486 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 378 | 39.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 363 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 26.1 mi |
Top 2 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 Byram. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Byram.
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.