In 2025, fire departments serving Ferriday responded to 45 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2.8M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
143 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $9.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 25 | — | |
| 2023 | 34 | +36.0% | |
| 2024 | 23 | -32.4% | |
| 2025 | 45 | +95.7% |
* Well below Ferriday'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 21 building fires Ferriday departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 117 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 | 56 | 47.9% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 12 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 7 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Other | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Function area, other | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Roof surface: exterior | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 10.3% |
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 Ferriday mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 83 | 70.9% | |
| 2 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 7 | 6.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 5 | 4.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Radiated heat from another fire | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 2.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ferriday departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,800,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ferriday sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 19,244 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 | 30.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 4,109 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,375 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,295 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 800 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 766 | 27.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 570 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 491 | 37.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 453 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 408 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 36.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 46.6 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 Louisiana cities with population within ±25% of Ferriday. 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.