In 2025, fire departments serving Olive Branch responded to 270 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 74% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,206 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $9.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 144 | — | |
| 2022* | 35 | — | |
| 2023 | 457 | — | |
| 2024 | 300 | -34.4% | |
| 2025 | 270 | -10.0% |
* Well below Olive Branch'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 17 building fires Olive Branch departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 244 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 44 | 18.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 36 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 30 | 12.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 23 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 16 | 6.6% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 9 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Other | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 57 | 23.4% |
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 Olive Branch mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 105 | 43.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 23 | 9.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 16 | 6.6% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 15 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 36 | 14.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Olive Branch departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Olive Branch sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 18,422 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,826 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 26.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,130 | 32.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,092 | 36.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,007 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,005 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 46.7 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 891 | 34.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 27.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 770 | 25.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 750 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 720 | 44.8 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 | 38654 | 1,206 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Olive Branch. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Olive Branch.
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.