In 2025, fire departments serving Harrison responded to 290 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 52% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,613 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4.5M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 273 | — | |
| 2022 | 369 | +35.2% | |
| 2023 | 360 | -2.4% | |
| 2024 | 321 | -10.8% | |
| 2025 | 290 | -9.7% |
For the 30 building fires Harrison departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 459 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 | 88 | 19.2% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 63 | 13.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 56 | 12.2% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 37 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 31 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 25 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 20 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 10 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 105 | 22.9% |
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 Harrison mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 246 | 53.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 38 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 29 | 6.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 25 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 14 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 13 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 11 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 7 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 47 | 10.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Harrison departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $13,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $7,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Harrison sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
18 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 37,983 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,983 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,471 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,121 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,101 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,014 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2,008 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,653 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 1,631 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,625 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 1,470 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 1,435 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,350 | 33.3 mi |
Top 4 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 Harrison. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Harrison.
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.