In 2025, fire departments serving Malvern responded to 263 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $110K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,549 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.8M cumulative property loss. 8 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 280 | — | |
| 2022 | 399 | +42.5% | |
| 2023 | 255 | -36.1% | |
| 2024 | 352 | +38.0% | |
| 2025 | 263 | -25.3% |
For the 46 building fires Malvern departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 760 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 | 285 | 37.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 118 | 15.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 59 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 47 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 35 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 26 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 18 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Other | 13 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Machinery room or area; elevator machinery room | 13 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 133 | 17.5% |
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 Malvern mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 497 | 65.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 26 | 3.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 25 | 3.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 24 | 3.2% | |
| 5 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 24 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 22 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 20 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 19 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 15 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 74 | 9.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Malvern departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 85% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $110,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $60,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Malvern sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 22,537 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Natural | 5,091 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,067 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 1,535 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,014 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 960 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 954 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 852 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 825 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 705 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 695 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 640 | 31.4 mi |
Top 7 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Arkansas cities with population within ±25% of Malvern. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Malvern.
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.