In 2025, fire departments serving Marion responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K 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 94% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
73 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $12K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 12 | — | |
| 2022* | 3 | — | |
| 2023 | 22 | — | |
| 2024 | 18 | -18.2% | |
| 2025 | 18 | +0.0% |
* 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 8 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 15 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 | 4 | 26.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Vacant structural area | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Office | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Wall assembly | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Marion mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Match | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Marion departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $900 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | 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. 13,223 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 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 892 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 823 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 470 | 43.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 403 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 9.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 365 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 13.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 345 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 325 | 42.0 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 | 39342 | 73 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Marion. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 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.