In 2025, fire departments serving Portal responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Portal's departments reported 27 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 47 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 85% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
233 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $995K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 51 | — | |
| 2022 | 65 | +27.5% | |
| 2023 | 42 | -35.4% | |
| 2024 | 48 | +14.3% | |
| 2025* | 27 | — |
* Well below Portal'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 Portal departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 93 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 | 47 | 50.5% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 11 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 6.5% |
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 Portal mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 71 | 76.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 5.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 5 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 10 | Incendiary device | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 4.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Portal departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $500 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $25 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Portal sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,224 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1,742 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 916 | 39.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 827 | 36.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 789 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 760 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 713 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 663 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 586 | 38.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 571 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 481 | 37.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 468 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 405 | 29.3 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 Georgia cities with population within ±25% of Portal. 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.