In 2025, fire departments serving Donaldsonville responded to 108 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 48% of all calls.
May peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
443 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $3.1M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 49 | — | |
| 2022 | 55 | — | |
| 2023 | 115 | +109.1% | |
| 2024 | 116 | +0.9% | |
| 2025 | 108 | -6.9% |
* Well below Donaldsonville'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 Donaldsonville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 134 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 | 26 | 19.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 19 | 14.2% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 14 | 10.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 10.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Other | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Closet | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 35 | 26.1% |
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 Donaldsonville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 65 | 48.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 21 | 15.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 6.0% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 16 | 11.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Donaldsonville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 73% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $65,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $35,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Donaldsonville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,743 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Natural | 893 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 614 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 235 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 200 | 49.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 46.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 160 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 125 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 125 | 40.4 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 Donaldsonville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Donaldsonville.
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.