In 2025, fire departments serving Kaplan responded to 71 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100 building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
339 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $240K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 41 | — | |
| 2022 | 74 | +80.5% | |
| 2023 | 76 | +2.7% | |
| 2024 | 77 | +1.3% | |
| 2025 | 71 | -7.8% |
For the 14 building fires Kaplan departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 145 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 | 63 | 43.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 18 | 12.4% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 14 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Other | 11 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 7.6% |
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 Kaplan mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 103 | 71.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 13 | 9.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 7 | Incendiary device | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Match | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 7.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Kaplan departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kaplan sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,517 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 2,504 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,154 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,100 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 836 | 33.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 700 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 637 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 327 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 308 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 295 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 263 | 37.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Natural | 245 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 216 | 39.1 mi |
Top 5 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 Kaplan. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Kaplan.
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.