In 2025, fire departments serving Merryville responded to 45 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Jul peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
159 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $234K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 7 | — | |
| 2022* | 18 | — | |
| 2023 | 57 | — | |
| 2024 | 32 | -43.9% | |
| 2025 | 45 | +40.6% |
* Well below Merryville'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 1 building fires Merryville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 102 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 | 20 | 19.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 16 | 15.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 16 | 15.7% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 16 | 15.7% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 13.7% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 6.9% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Function area, other | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 10 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 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 Merryville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 55 | 53.9% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 7.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 7 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 4 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Lightning | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 10 | 9.8% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Merryville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 52,045 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 15,864 | 10.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,091 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,197 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 2,922 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 2,852 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 1,820 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,622 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,509 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,178 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 23.3 mi |
Top 2 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 Merryville. 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.