In 2025, fire departments serving Marion responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 93% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
66 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $545K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 8 | — | |
| 2022* | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 15 | — | |
| 2024 | 22 | +46.7% | |
| 2025 | 14 | -36.4% |
* Well below Marion'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 3 building fires Marion departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 29.4% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 23.5% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 4 | 23.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Marion mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15 | 88.2% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 3 | Lightning | 1 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Marion departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Marion sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 17,763 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,669 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,806 | 11.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 1,806 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,509 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,414 | 45.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 929 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 902 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 755 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 632 | 19.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 490 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 310 | 30.6 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 | 71260 | 66 |
Six Louisiana cities with population within ±25% of Marion. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Marion.
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.