In 2025, fire departments serving Mound Bayou responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K 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 78% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
81 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | — | |
| 2022* | 5 | — | |
| 2023 | 13 | — | |
| 2024 | 29 | +123.1% | |
| 2025 | 23 | -20.7% |
* Well below Mound Bayou'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 11 building fires Mound Bayou departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 43 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 | 18 | 41.9% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Function area, other | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 16.3% |
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 Mound Bayou mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 24 | 55.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 5 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 1 | 2.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mound Bayou departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,500 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mound Bayou sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,333 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 485 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 328 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 279 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 265 | 46.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 250 | 38.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 210 | 27.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 190 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 188 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 181 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 180 | 39.6 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 | 38762 | 81 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Mound Bayou. 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.