In 2025, fire departments serving Hernando responded to 239 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,091 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $4.8M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 160 | — | |
| 2022 | 151 | -5.6% | |
| 2023 | 293 | +94.0% | |
| 2024 | 248 | -15.4% | |
| 2025 | 239 | -3.6% |
For the 24 building fires Hernando departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 272 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 | 153 | 56.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 29 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 4.4% | |
| 4 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 8 | 2.9% | |
| 5 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 40 | 14.7% |
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 Hernando mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 192 | 70.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 19 | 7.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 3.7% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 3.3% | |
| 5 | Molten, hot material | 5 | 1.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 3 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 6.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hernando departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 85% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $17,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hernando sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 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. 17,384 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,826 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 22.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,130 | 38.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,092 | 38.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,007 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,005 | 44.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 891 | 34.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 29.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 770 | 29.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 750 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 720 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 637 | 23.8 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Hernando. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hernando.
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.