In 2025, fire departments serving Sherwood responded to 263 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $430K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,756 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.9M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 344 | — | |
| 2022 | 402 | +16.9% | |
| 2023 | 403 | +0.2% | |
| 2024 | 344 | -14.6% | |
| 2025 | 263 | -23.5% |
For the 37 building fires Sherwood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 615 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 | 137 | 22.3% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 92 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 70 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 51 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 39 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 28 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 27 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 13 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 12 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Other | 11 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 135 | 22.0% |
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 Sherwood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 375 | 61.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 42 | 6.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 30 | 4.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 20 | 3.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 19 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 18 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 13 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 11 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 10 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 64 | 10.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sherwood departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $430,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sherwood sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 16,999 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 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 5.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,401 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 954 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 705 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 695 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 636 | 11.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 540 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 486 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 413 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 367 | 15.7 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 Sherwood. 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.