In 2025, fire departments serving Magee responded to 145 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $25K 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 77% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
476 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $246K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 81 | — | |
| 2022* | 39 | — | |
| 2023 | 116 | — | |
| 2024 | 95 | -18.1% | |
| 2025 | 145 | +52.6% |
* Well below Magee'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 26 building fires Magee departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 254 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 | 61 | 24.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 42 | 16.5% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 29 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 24 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 19 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 15 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 41 | 16.1% |
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 Magee mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 128 | 50.4% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 47 | 18.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 21 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 13 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 3 | 1.2% | |
| 8 | Match | 3 | 1.2% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 3 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 3 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 7.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Magee departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Magee sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 14,954 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 | 43.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 1,001 | 5.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 682 | 17.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 600 | 39.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 550 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 506 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 493 | 38.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 486 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 440 | 46.8 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 | 39111 | 476 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Magee. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Magee.
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.