In 2025, fire departments serving Fouke responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 84% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
65 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $763K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 8 | — | |
| 2022* | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 14 | — | |
| 2024 | 18 | +28.6% | |
| 2025 | 19 | +5.6% |
* Well below Fouke'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 2 building fires Fouke departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 27 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 | 14 | 51.9% | |
| 2 | Other | 4 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 3.7% |
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 Fouke mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 19 | 70.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 3 | Lightning | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fouke departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fouke sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 57,093 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 41,050 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,378 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,036 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,299 | 3.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,048 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 905 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 902 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 740 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 727 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 665 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 537 | 17.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 506 | 45.6 mi |
Top 3 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 Fouke. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fouke.
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.