In 2025, fire departments serving Jesup responded to 213 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.5M 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.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,080 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $24.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 201 | — | |
| 2022 | 250 | +24.4% | |
| 2023 | 204 | -18.4% | |
| 2024 | 212 | +3.9% | |
| 2025 | 213 | +0.5% |
For the 27 building fires Jesup departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 362 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 | 154 | 42.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 35 | 9.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 18 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 16 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 12 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Other | 10 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 7 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 6 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 85 | 23.5% |
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 Jesup mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 215 | 59.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 23 | 6.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 22 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 17 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 9 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 7 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 7 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 6 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 35 | 9.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Jesup departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $39,600 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $34,737 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $33,112 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Jesup sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 144,184 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Natural | 68,361 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 22,246 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 19,198 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 4,035 | 13.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,500 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 3,482 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2,500 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,228 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,778 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1,742 | 17.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1,488 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1,476 | 26.7 mi |
Top 6 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Georgia cities with population within ±25% of Jesup. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Jesup.
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.