In 2025, fire departments serving Lake Charles responded to 1,160 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. 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 49% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
6,157 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $48.5M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,293 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,420 | +9.8% | |
| 2023 | 1,122 | -21.0% | |
| 2024 | 1,162 | +3.6% | |
| 2025 | 1,160 | -0.2% |
For the 109 building fires Lake Charles departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,592 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 232 | 14.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 226 | 14.2% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 191 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 165 | 10.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 139 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 68 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 53 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 42 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 38 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 34 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 404 | 25.4% |
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 Lake Charles mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 821 | 51.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 139 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 77 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 67 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 57 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 54 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 37 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 37 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 36 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 33 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 234 | 14.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lake Charles departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 43% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 8 | $240,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lake Charles sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 152,464 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Natural | 12,154 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 11,218 | 35.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 11,210 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 8,874 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 7,433 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 7,000 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 6,385 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 6,384 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 6,365 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 6,259 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 6,174 | 24.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,018 | 22.6 mi |
Top 10 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 Lake Charles. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lake Charles.
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.