In 2025, fire departments serving Cumming responded to 944 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K 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 61% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,955 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $404K cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 564 | — | |
| 2022 | 890 | +57.8% | |
| 2023 | 782 | -12.1% | |
| 2024 | 775 | -0.9% | |
| 2025 | 944 | +21.8% |
For the 40 building fires Cumming departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 720 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 | 149 | 20.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 122 | 16.9% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 77 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 43 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 26 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 26 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 22 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 21 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 19 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 18 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 197 | 27.4% |
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 Cumming mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 377 | 52.4% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 43 | 6.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 41 | 5.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 34 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 27 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 23 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 20 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Radiated heat from another fire | 18 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 16 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 106 | 14.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cumming departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,500 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $500 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $300 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cumming sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
34 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 16,246 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,048 | 34.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,040 | 37.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,010 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 965 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 915 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 802 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 780 | 21.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 680 | 36.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Recreation and ceremony | 622 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 542 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 528 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 519 | 48.6 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Georgia cities with population within ±25% of Cumming. 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.