In 2025, fire departments serving Palestine responded to 46 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 85% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
65 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $517K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 5 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023* | 6 | — | |
| 2024* | 7 | — | |
| 2025 | 46 | — |
* Well below Palestine'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 5 building fires Palestine departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 39 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 | 22 | 56.4% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 23.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Other | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 2.6% |
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 Palestine mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 31 | 79.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 4 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 5 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 2.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Palestine departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 92% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Palestine sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,779 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 776 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 441 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 319 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 282 | 45.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 255 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 250 | 6.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 239 | 11.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 238 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 221 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Smoking | 210 | 14.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 203 | 34.7 mi |
Top 4 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 Palestine. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Palestine.
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.