In 2025, fire departments serving Luling responded to 61 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 56% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
348 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $518K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 83 | — | |
| 2022* | 35 | — | |
| 2023 | 97 | — | |
| 2024 | 72 | -25.8% | |
| 2025 | 61 | -15.3% |
* Well below Luling'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 7 building fires Luling departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 98 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 | Outside area, other | 22 | 22.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 11.2% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 10.2% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 6 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 4 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Other | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 21 | 21.4% |
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 Luling mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 41 | 41.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 11.2% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 10 | 10.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 7 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Match | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 7.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Luling departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Luling sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 14,938 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,922 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 1,500 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 893 | 8.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 800 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 725 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 641 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 614 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 600 | 48.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 570 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 550 | 41.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 520 | 37.3 mi |
Top 2 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 Luling. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.