In 2025, fire departments serving Rome responded to 973 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,591 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $10K cumulative property loss. 8 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 746 | — | |
| 2022 | 877 | +17.6% | |
| 2023 | 1,032 | +17.7% | |
| 2024 | 963 | -6.7% | |
| 2025 | 973 | +1.0% |
For the 50 building fires Rome departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,577 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 | 304 | 19.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 231 | 14.6% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 182 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 172 | 10.9% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 143 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 112 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 63 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 38 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 30 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 23 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 279 | 17.7% |
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 Rome mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 942 | 59.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 87 | 5.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 71 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 65 | 4.1% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 58 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 43 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 29 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 29 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 27 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 26 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 200 | 12.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rome sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
14 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 31,994 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,321 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 3,000 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,836 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 2,083 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,636 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1,448 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,350 | 27.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,281 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 965 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 907 | 15.8 mi |
Top 10 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 Rome. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Rome.
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.