In 2025, fire departments serving Maben responded to 29 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $52K 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 76% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
140 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $512K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 13 | — | |
| 2022* | 12 | — | |
| 2023 | 36 | — | |
| 2024 | 50 | +38.9% | |
| 2025 | 29 | -42.0% |
* Well below Maben'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 2 building fires Maben departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 48 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 | 18 | 37.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 14.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Other | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 8.3% |
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 Maben mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 30 | 62.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 4 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Candle | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Maben departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $52,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $7,500 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,500 | Authorized controlled burning | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Maben sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,754 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,208 | 49.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Smoking | 1,620 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 700 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 626 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 475 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 472 | 33.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 470 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 5.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 46.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 390 | 7.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 387 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 374 | 26.0 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 Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Maben. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Maben.
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.