In 2025, fire departments serving Carlisle responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
73 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 36 | +125.0% | |
| 2023* | 3 | — | |
| 2024* | 3 | — | |
| 2025 | 15 | — |
* Well below Carlisle'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 8 building fires Carlisle departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 32 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 | 16 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 9.4% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 6.2% |
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 Carlisle mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 21 | 65.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 3.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Carlisle sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,473 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 636 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 441 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 367 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 336 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 319 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 270 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 250 | 43.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 240 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 238 | 12.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 226 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 221 | 37.8 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 | 72024 | 73 |
Six Arkansas cities with population within ±25% of Carlisle. 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.