In 2025, fire departments serving Eatonton responded to 143 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1 building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,114 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 188 | — | |
| 2022 | 303 | +61.2% | |
| 2023 | 295 | -2.6% | |
| 2024 | 185 | -37.3% | |
| 2025 | 143 | -22.7% |
For the 11 building fires Eatonton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 204 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 | 102 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 16 | 7.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 5.4% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 10 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 4 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 36 | 17.6% |
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 Eatonton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 128 | 62.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 6.4% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 4.9% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 9 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 9 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 4 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 4.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Eatonton departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Eatonton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,406 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 547 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 445 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 305 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 301 | 46.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 289 | 25.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 277 | 34.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 253 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 215 | 14.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 212 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 206 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 189 | 44.6 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 Georgia cities with population within ±25% of Eatonton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Eatonton.
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.