In 2025, fire departments serving Simsboro responded to 40 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
118 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.3M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 11 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023 | 40 | — | |
| 2024 | 27 | -32.5% | |
| 2025 | 40 | +48.1% |
* Well below Simsboro'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 7 building fires Simsboro departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 70 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 15.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 11 | 15.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 9 | 12.9% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Structural area, other | 4 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 5.7% | |
| 8 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 15 | 21.4% |
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 Simsboro mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 36 | 51.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 6 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 4 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Lightning | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 5.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Simsboro departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Simsboro sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 16,269 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,969 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,254 | 38.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,075 | 46.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 929 | 27.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 906 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 902 | 12.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 800 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 745 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 669 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 380 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 376 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 345 | 32.5 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 Louisiana cities with population within ±25% of Simsboro. 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.