In 2025, fire departments serving Chatham responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Chatham's departments reported 12 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 23 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
114 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $405K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 19 | — | |
| 2022 | 27 | +42.1% | |
| 2023 | 34 | +25.9% | |
| 2024 | 22 | -35.3% | |
| 2025* | 12 | — |
* Well below Chatham'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 2 building fires Chatham departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 51 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 21.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 9 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 10 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 15.7% |
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 Chatham mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 19 | 37.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 31.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 6 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 2.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Chatham departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Chatham sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 20,770 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,969 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,806 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,254 | 42.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,075 | 36.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 929 | 46.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 906 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 902 | 36.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 800 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 800 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 766 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 745 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 669 | 45.9 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 Louisiana cities with population within ±25% of Chatham. 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.