In 2025, fire departments serving Lake responded to 50 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
133 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $4.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022* | 4 | — | |
| 2023* | 15 | — | |
| 2024 | 63 | — | |
| 2025 | 50 | -20.6% |
* Well below Lake'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 8 building fires Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 45 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 | 23 | 51.1% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 6.7% |
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 mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 31 | 68.9% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 1 | 2.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lake departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,791 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 4,212 | 5.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 1,001 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 682 | 24.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 600 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 510 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 493 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 416 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 387 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 33.9 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 | 39092 | 133 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Lake. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lake.
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.