In 2025, fire departments serving Morgan City responded to 84 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K 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 57% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
285 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $867K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022* | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 38 | — | |
| 2024 | 155 | +307.9% | |
| 2025 | 84 | -45.8% |
* Well below Morgan City'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 10 building fires Morgan City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 72 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 23 | 31.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 9 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 4 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Other | 3 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 3 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 16.7% |
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 Morgan City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 19 | 26.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 18.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 10 | 13.9% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 6 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 9.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Morgan City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 94% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $8,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Morgan City sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 6 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 880 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 614 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 75 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 70 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 55 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 47 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 19 | 23.7 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 Morgan City. 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.