In 2025, fire departments serving Gonzales responded to 222 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $261K 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 53% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,449 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $5.0M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 240 | — | |
| 2022 | 178 | -25.8% | |
| 2023 | 439 | +146.6% | |
| 2024 | 370 | -15.7% | |
| 2025 | 222 | -40.0% |
For the 25 building fires Gonzales departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 492 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 94 | 19.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 64 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 57 | 11.6% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 50 | 10.2% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 38 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Other | 26 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 16 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 16 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 14 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 107 | 21.7% |
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 Gonzales mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 193 | 39.2% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 43 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 41 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 28 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 25 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 18 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 18 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 16 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 16 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 78 | 15.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Gonzales departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 94% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $261,300 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gonzales sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,720 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 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 893 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 614 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 258 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 235 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 230 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 200 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 170 | 48.3 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 Louisiana cities with population within ±25% of Gonzales. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Gonzales.
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.