In 2025, fire departments serving Macon responded to 78 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
186 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $15K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 27 | — | |
| 2022* | 17 | — | |
| 2023 | 41 | — | |
| 2024 | 23 | -43.9% | |
| 2025 | 78 | +239.1% |
* Well below Macon'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 11 building fires Macon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 73 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 | 54 | 74.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 8.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 4 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 6 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 7 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 8 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 2.7% |
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 Macon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 60 | 82.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 5 | 6.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 4 | Lightning | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 7 | Candle | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 1.4% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Macon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,779 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 892 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 823 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 700 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 472 | 47.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 470 | 10.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 420 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 420 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 403 | 20.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 390 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 374 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 40.0 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 | 39341 | 186 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Macon. 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.