In 2025, fire departments serving Pine Bluff responded to 803 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $128K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,180 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $18.1M cumulative property loss. 10 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 740 | — | |
| 2022 | 930 | +25.7% | |
| 2023 | 896 | -3.7% | |
| 2024 | 811 | -9.5% | |
| 2025 | 803 | -1.0% |
For the 97 building fires Pine Bluff departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 2,419 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 | 551 | 22.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 354 | 14.6% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 178 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 178 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 140 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 88 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Other | 85 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 74 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 67 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 58 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 646 | 26.7% |
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 Pine Bluff mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 1,396 | 57.7% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 203 | 8.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 87 | 3.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 87 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 76 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 61 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Match | 61 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 58 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 52 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 44 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 294 | 12.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pine Bluff departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 27% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $128,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $105,050 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $90,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $82,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $66,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pine Bluff sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
18 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,273 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,070 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 606 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 495 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 486 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 336 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 307 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 226 | 15.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 221 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 210 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 210 | 27.3 mi |
Top 9 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 Pine Bluff. 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.