In 2025, fire departments serving Decatur responded to 32 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Aug peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
86 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $407K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 25 | +127.3% | |
| 2023* | 9 | — | |
| 2024* | 9 | — | |
| 2025 | 32 | — |
* Well below Decatur'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 6 building fires Decatur departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 12 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 | 5 | 41.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 1 | 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 Decatur mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 75.0% | |
| 2 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Lightning | 1 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Decatur departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Natural vegetation fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Decatur sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 50,423 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,120 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,050 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,800 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,240 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,580 | 28.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,310 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2,135 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,108 | 42.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 2,085 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 31.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,920 | 48.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,900 | 38.3 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 | 72722 | 86 |
Six Arkansas cities with population within ±25% of Decatur. 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.