In 2025, fire departments serving Houma responded to 492 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,566 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $9.6M cumulative property loss. 8 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,020 | — | |
| 2022 | 693 | -32.1% | |
| 2023 | 684 | -1.3% | |
| 2024 | 677 | -1.0% | |
| 2025 | 492 | -27.3% |
For the 64 building fires Houma departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,106 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 | Outside area, other | 174 | 15.7% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 159 | 14.4% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 146 | 13.2% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 106 | 9.6% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 97 | 8.8% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 32 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 30 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 28 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Other | 25 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 23 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 286 | 25.9% |
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 Houma mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 583 | 52.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 71 | 6.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 68 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 50 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 43 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 41 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 30 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 28 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 27 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 25 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 140 | 12.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Houma departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 62% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $65,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Houma sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
27 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 10 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,696 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Natural | 893 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 614 | 6.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 55 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 47 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 19 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 16 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 15 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 15 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 12 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 47.0 mi |
Top 9 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Louisiana cities with population within ±25% of Houma. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Houma.
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.