In 2025, fire departments serving Picayune responded to 236 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
908 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $3.0M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 117 | — | |
| 2022 | 117 | +0.0% | |
| 2023 | 218 | +86.3% | |
| 2024 | 220 | +0.9% | |
| 2025 | 236 | +7.3% |
For the 26 building fires Picayune departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 279 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 | 149 | 53.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 23 | 8.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 21 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 18 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Wall surface: exterior | 11 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 5 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 4 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 31 | 11.1% |
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 Picayune mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 198 | 71.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 23 | 8.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 4.3% | |
| 4 | Lightning | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 1.8% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 5 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 4 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 4 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 12 | 4.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Picayune departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 82% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $62,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Picayune sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 34,810 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,708 | 13.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,000 | 22.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,135 | 14.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,922 | 16.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 1,824 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,698 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,600 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 1,507 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 1,500 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,485 | 20.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,350 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 35.7 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 | 39466 | 908 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Picayune. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Picayune.
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.