In 2025, fire departments serving Jonesboro responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 73% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
126 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $230K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 24 | — | |
| 2022* | 11 | — | |
| 2023 | 31 | — | |
| 2024 | 34 | +9.7% | |
| 2025 | 26 | -23.5% |
* Well below Jonesboro'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 4 building fires Jonesboro departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 28 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 | 10 | 35.7% | |
| 2 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 7.1% |
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 Jonesboro mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 46.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 4 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Match | 1 | 3.6% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Jonesboro sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 3 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 80 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | 20 | 10.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 10 | 32.2 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 46938 | 126 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Jonesboro. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Jonesboro.
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.