In 2025, fire departments serving Heber Springs responded to 88 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $220K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
393 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $721K cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 78 | — | |
| 2022 | 97 | +24.4% | |
| 2023 | 103 | +6.2% | |
| 2024* | 27 | — | |
| 2025 | 88 | — |
* Well below Heber Springs'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 12 building fires Heber Springs departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 225 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 | 54 | 24.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 37 | 16.4% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 27 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 17 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Other | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 43 | 19.1% |
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 Heber Springs mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 132 | 58.7% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 17 | 7.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 15 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Match | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 3 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 28 | 12.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Heber Springs departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $220,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $189,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $60,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Heber Springs sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 19,029 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,779 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,591 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 1,200 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,052 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,032 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,004 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 821 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 776 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 736 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 675 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 636 | 39.3 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 Heber Springs. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Heber Springs.
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.