In 2025, fire departments serving Russellville responded to 351 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,036 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $17.5M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 329 | — | |
| 2022 | 462 | +40.4% | |
| 2023 | 424 | -8.2% | |
| 2024 | 470 | +10.8% | |
| 2025 | 351 | -25.3% |
For the 51 building fires Russellville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 590 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 | 178 | 30.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 73 | 12.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 56 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 47 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 42 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 22 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Other | 13 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 12 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 10 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 10 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 127 | 21.5% |
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 Russellville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 366 | 62.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 34 | 5.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 32 | 5.4% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 25 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 21 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 20 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 15 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 7 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 48 | 8.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Russellville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 83% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $185,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $180,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Russellville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
12 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 | 5 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 38,732 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Natural | 5,091 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 4,000 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,983 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,067 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,014 | 20.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2,008 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,653 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 1,470 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 1,435 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,401 | 16.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,340 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,052 | 37.3 mi |
Top 6 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Arkansas cities with population within ±25% of Russellville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Russellville.
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.