In 2025, fire departments serving Courtland responded to 62 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 71% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
155 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $446K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 10 | — | |
| 2022* | 11 | — | |
| 2023 | 25 | — | |
| 2024 | 47 | +88.0% | |
| 2025 | 62 | +31.9% |
* Well below Courtland'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 11 building fires Courtland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 38 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 | 17 | 44.7% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 10.5% |
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 Courtland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 24 | 63.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 5 | 13.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Fireworks | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 2.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Courtland departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Courtland sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 17,271 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,826 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 25.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,130 | 50.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,092 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,005 | 45.8 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 891 | 34.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 39.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 770 | 42.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 750 | 16.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 720 | 18.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 637 | 20.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 636 | 35.4 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 | 38620 | 155 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Courtland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Courtland.
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.