In 2025, fire departments serving Grand Isle responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 77% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
112 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $388K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 15 | — | |
| 2022* | 5 | — | |
| 2023 | 52 | — | |
| 2024 | 23 | -55.8% | |
| 2025 | 17 | -26.1% |
* Well below Grand Isle'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 Grand Isle departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 41 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 | 11 | 26.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 9 | 22.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 5 | 12.2% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 12.2% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 7.3% |
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 Grand Isle mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 19 | 46.3% | |
| 2 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 5 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Lightning | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 7.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Grand Isle departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Grand Isle sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 3 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 642 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 614 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 16 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 12 | 40.1 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 70358 | 112 |
Six Louisiana cities with population within ±25% of Grand Isle. 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.