In 2025, fire departments serving Fayetteville responded to 745 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K 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 44% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,749 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $36.7M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 775 | — | |
| 2022 | 737 | -4.9% | |
| 2023 | 745 | +1.1% | |
| 2024 | 747 | +0.3% | |
| 2025 | 745 | -0.3% |
For the 69 building fires Fayetteville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,427 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 | 365 | 25.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 204 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 128 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 124 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 103 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 54 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 54 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 44 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 29 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 27 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 295 | 20.7% |
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 Fayetteville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 903 | 63.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 63 | 4.4% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 63 | 4.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 55 | 3.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 42 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 41 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 31 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 31 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 30 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 23 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 145 | 10.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fayetteville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 54% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $376,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $225,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $125,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $110,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fayetteville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
18 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 48,968 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,050 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,800 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,285 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,240 | 35.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,770 | 36.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,310 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2,135 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,108 | 30.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 2,085 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 39.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,920 | 38.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,900 | 46.9 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Arkansas cities with population within ±25% of Fayetteville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fayetteville.
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.