In 2025, fire departments serving Hamburg responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 83% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
64 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $919K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022* | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 21 | — | |
| 2024 | 22 | +4.8% | |
| 2025 | 12 | -45.5% |
* Well below Hamburg'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 1 building fires Hamburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 46 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 17.4% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 15.2% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 7 | 15.2% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Other | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 10.9% |
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 Hamburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 23.9% | |
| 2 | Match | 6 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 10.9% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 10.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 8.7% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 3 | 6.5% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Arcing | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 6.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hamburg departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hamburg sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 20,879 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,669 | 4.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,070 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,806 | 25.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 1,806 | 20.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,509 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,414 | 18.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,013 | 17.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 755 | 8.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 632 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 606 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 495 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 490 | 40.5 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 Hamburg. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hamburg.
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.