In 2025, fire departments serving Centerton responded to 92 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K 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 73% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
382 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $895K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 22 | — | |
| 2022 | 89 | — | |
| 2023 | 73 | -18.0% | |
| 2024 | 106 | +45.2% | |
| 2025 | 92 | -13.2% |
* Well below Centerton'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 Centerton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 84 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 | 25 | 29.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 16 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 13.1% | |
| 4 | Other | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 8.3% |
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 Centerton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 47 | 56.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 9.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Centerton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,500 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $500 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Centerton sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 46,044 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,050 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,800 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,285 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,240 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,580 | 33.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,310 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2,135 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,108 | 45.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 2,085 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 39.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,900 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,850 | 35.6 mi |
Top 5 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 Centerton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Centerton.
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.