In 2025, fire departments serving Osceola responded to 151 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
641 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.8M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 150 | — | |
| 2022 | 125 | -16.7% | |
| 2023 | 103 | -17.6% | |
| 2024 | 112 | +8.7% | |
| 2025 | 151 | +34.8% |
For the 24 building fires Osceola departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 427 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 | 139 | 32.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 60 | 14.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 41 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 27 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 27 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 19 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 12 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 9 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 9 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 8 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 76 | 17.8% |
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 Osceola mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 363 | 85.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 13 | 3.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 1.9% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 6 | 1.4% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 1.2% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 1.2% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 1.2% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 0.9% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 4 | 0.9% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 0.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 2.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Osceola departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 64% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Osceola sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,646 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 316 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 203 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 175 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 168 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 148 | 19.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 139 | 19.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 135 | 34.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 122 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 112 | 44.5 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 | 72370 | 641 |
Six Arkansas cities with population within ±25% of Osceola. 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.