In 2025, fire departments serving Maringouin responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1 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 69% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
55 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $376K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022 | 11 | — | |
| 2023 | 19 | +72.7% | |
| 2024 | 9 | -52.6% | |
| 2025 | 13 | +44.4% |
* Well below Maringouin'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 0 building fires Maringouin departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 26 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 38.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 19.2% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 4 | Corridor, mall | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 11.5% |
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 Maringouin mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 46.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Radiated heat from another fire | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Candle | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 3.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Maringouin departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1 | Natural vegetation fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Maringouin sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,782 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,295 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 230 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 200 | 9.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 192 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 136 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 125 | 49.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 110 | 49.4 mi |
Top 3 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 Maringouin. 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.