In 2025, fire departments serving Cave City responded to 78 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 76% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
300 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $3.1M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 45 | — | |
| 2022 | 68 | +51.1% | |
| 2023 | 58 | -14.7% | |
| 2024 | 51 | -12.1% | |
| 2025 | 78 | +52.9% |
For the 8 building fires Cave City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 251 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 | Outside area, other | 107 | 42.6% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 25 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 23 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Other | 19 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 17 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 15 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Structural area, other | 13 | 5.2% | |
| 8 | Function area, other | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 18 | 7.2% |
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 Cave City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 129 | 51.4% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 25 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 19 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 12 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 23 | 9.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cave City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Fire, other | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $58,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cave City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,002 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,779 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,591 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 928 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 821 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 800 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 776 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 680 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 666 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 524 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 508 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 472 | 38.7 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 Cave 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.