In 2025, fire departments serving Sardis responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $4K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
110 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $21K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022 | 27 | — | |
| 2023 | 27 | +0.0% | |
| 2024 | 31 | +14.8% | |
| 2025 | 25 | -19.4% |
* Well below Sardis'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 0 building fires Sardis departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 34 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 | Outside area, other | 9 | 26.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 5 | 14.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 8.8% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 8.8% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 5.9% |
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 Sardis mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 26.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 5 | 14.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 4 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Match | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 11.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sardis departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sardis sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,769 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 950 | 35.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 789 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 586 | 10.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 481 | 6.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 468 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 405 | 29.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 373 | 10.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 346 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 326 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 306 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 285 | 14.4 mi |
Top 2 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 Sardis. 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.