In 2025, fire departments serving Erwinville responded to 15 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 73% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
26 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $69K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023* | 3 | — | |
| 2024 | 6 | — | |
| 2025 | 15 | +150.0% |
* Well below Erwinville'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 3 building fires Erwinville 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 | 6 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: 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 Erwinville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 66.7% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 1 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Erwinville departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $3,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Erwinville sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,325 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 4,110 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 41.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 49.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 260 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 230 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 200 | 17.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 192 | 16.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 160 | 47.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 158 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 44.2 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 Erwinville. 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.