In 2025, fire departments serving Senatobia responded to 149 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $45K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
680 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $3.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 133 | — | |
| 2022* | 29 | — | |
| 2023 | 169 | — | |
| 2024 | 200 | +18.3% | |
| 2025 | 149 | -25.5% |
* Well below Senatobia'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 13 building fires Senatobia departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 188 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 | 70 | 37.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 36 | 19.1% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 25 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 24 | 12.8% |
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 Senatobia mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 105 | 55.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 15 | 8.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated heat from another fire | 12 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 7 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 17 | 9.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Senatobia departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 72% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $8,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Senatobia sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 18,367 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,826 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 12.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,130 | 38.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,092 | 32.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,007 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,005 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 47.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 891 | 28.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 26.8 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 770 | 28.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 750 | 9.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 720 | 26.7 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 | 38668 | 680 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Senatobia. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Senatobia.
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.