In 2025, fire departments serving Prentiss responded to 62 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K 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.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
386 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 58 | — | |
| 2022 | 66 | +13.8% | |
| 2023 | 126 | +90.9% | |
| 2024 | 74 | -41.3% | |
| 2025 | 62 | -16.2% |
For the 17 building fires Prentiss departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 144 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 | 74 | 51.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 9.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 8 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Other | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 15 | 10.4% |
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 Prentiss mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 92 | 63.9% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 12 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Prentiss departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $22,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Prentiss sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 14,071 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 1,200 | 36.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 1,001 | 15.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 965 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 682 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 623 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 622 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 600 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 599 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 575 | 38.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 550 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 507 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 506 | 30.9 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 | 39474 | 386 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Prentiss. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Prentiss.
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.