In 2025, fire departments serving Searcy responded to 308 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 52% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,459 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $5.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 239 | — | |
| 2022 | 359 | +50.2% | |
| 2023 | 264 | -26.5% | |
| 2024 | 289 | +9.5% | |
| 2025 | 308 | +6.6% |
For the 29 building fires Searcy departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 618 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 115 | 18.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 91 | 14.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 65 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 49 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 48 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 36 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 16 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 13 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 13 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 12 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 160 | 25.9% |
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 Searcy mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 310 | 50.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 44 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 37 | 6.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 28 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 26 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 25 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 17 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 16 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 10 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 92 | 14.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Searcy departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 86% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $96,726 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $38,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $35,456 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Searcy 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,450 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,779 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 776 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 636 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 524 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 456 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 441 | 22.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 367 | 22.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 282 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 278 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 270 | 19.1 mi |
Top 5 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 Searcy. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Searcy.
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.