In 2025, fire departments serving Port Gibson responded to 34 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
152 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 31 | — | |
| 2022* | 16 | — | |
| 2023 | 29 | — | |
| 2024 | 42 | +44.8% | |
| 2025 | 34 | -19.0% |
* Well below Port Gibson'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 11 building fires Port Gibson departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 114 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 | 65 | 57.0% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 8 | 7.0% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Corridor, mall | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 9.6% |
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 Port Gibson mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 92 | 80.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 11 | 9.6% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 8 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 0.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Port Gibson departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Port Gibson sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,946 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 4,152 | 38.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 4,109 | 17.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 550 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 491 | 47.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 486 | 27.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 453 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 408 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 378 | 13.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 365 | 41.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 363 | 24.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 360 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 344 | 46.5 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 | 39150 | 152 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Port Gibson. 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.