In 2025, fire departments serving Plantersville responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 79% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
95 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $40K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 10 | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | — | |
| 2023* | 11 | — | |
| 2024 | 38 | — | |
| 2025 | 24 | -36.8% |
* Well below Plantersville'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 9 building fires Plantersville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 26 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 | 16 | 61.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 3.8% |
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 Plantersville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15 | 57.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.8% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Plantersville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,016 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 | 45.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Smoking | 1,620 | 9.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,344 | 43.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,092 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,005 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 608 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 537 | 43.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 459 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 453 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 45.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 23.7 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 | 38862 | 95 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Plantersville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Plantersville.
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.