In 2025, fire departments serving Fayette responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 78% of all calls.
Jan peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
65 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $901K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 5 | — | |
| 2022* | 4 | — | |
| 2023 | 17 | — | |
| 2024 | 21 | +23.5% | |
| 2025 | 18 | -14.3% |
* Well below Fayette'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 Fayette departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 46 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 | 16 | 34.8% | |
| 2 | Other | 4 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 3 | 6.5% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 8.7% |
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 Fayette mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 29 | 63.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 6 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Match | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 2.2% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fayette sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 17,631 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 | 40.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 4,109 | 2.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 1,200 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 622 | 42.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 570 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 491 | 29.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 486 | 29.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 453 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 408 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 378 | 17.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 365 | 23.9 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 | 39069 | 65 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Fayette. 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.