In 2025, fire departments serving French Settlement responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
107 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 12 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | — | |
| 2023 | 38 | +111.1% | |
| 2024 | 16 | -57.9% | |
| 2025 | 23 | +43.8% |
* Well below French Settlement'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 3 building fires French Settlement departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 78 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 | Outside area, other | 28 | 35.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 13 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 12 | 15.4% | |
| 4 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 5 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Separate operator/control area of transportation | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Other | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 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 French Settlement mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 27 | 34.6% | |
| 2 | Match | 20 | 25.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 7 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 3.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by French Settlement departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,500 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. French Settlement sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,061 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 893 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 800 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 725 | 48.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 424 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 300 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 279 | 47.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 279 | 48.9 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 French Settlement. 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.