In 2025, fire departments serving Forrest City responded to 225 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $175K 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 65% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,171 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.3M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 248 | — | |
| 2022 | 190 | -23.4% | |
| 2023 | 287 | +51.1% | |
| 2024 | 221 | -23.0% | |
| 2025 | 225 | +1.8% |
For the 53 building fires Forrest City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 710 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 | 158 | 22.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 107 | 15.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 88 | 12.4% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 52 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 50 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 28 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 22 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 18 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 17 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 15 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 155 | 21.8% |
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 Forrest City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 433 | 61.0% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 57 | 8.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 42 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 28 | 3.9% | |
| 5 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 17 | 2.4% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 16 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Match | 15 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 14 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 14 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 63 | 8.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Forrest City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 54% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $85,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Forrest City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,691 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 776 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 441 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 319 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 282 | 47.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 255 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 250 | 12.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 239 | 8.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 221 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Smoking | 210 | 20.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 203 | 30.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 173 | 35.6 mi |
Top 7 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 Forrest City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Forrest City.
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.