In 2025, fire departments serving Mountain Home responded to 95 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Mountain Home's departments reported 95 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 161 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
803 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 181 | — | |
| 2022 | 209 | +15.5% | |
| 2023 | 154 | -26.3% | |
| 2024 | 164 | +6.5% | |
| 2025* | 95 | — |
* Well below Mountain Home'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 12 building fires Mountain Home departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 255 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 | Outside area, other | 58 | 22.7% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 29 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 27 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 27 | 10.6% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 18 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 9 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Other | 8 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 7 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 56 | 22.0% |
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 Mountain Home mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 125 | 49.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 23 | 9.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 16 | 6.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 11 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 10 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 31 | 12.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mountain Home departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $240,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mountain Home sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 38,278 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,983 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,471 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,121 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,101 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2,008 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,779 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,653 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 1,631 | 17.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,625 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,591 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 1,470 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,460 | 37.6 mi |
Top 8 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Arkansas cities with population within ±25% of Mountain Home. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Mountain Home.
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.