In 2025, fire departments serving Tchula responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $80K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Passenger vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 94% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
34 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $295K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023* | 0 | — | |
| 2024 | 18 | — | |
| 2025 | 16 | -11.1% |
* Well below Tchula'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 2 building fires Tchula departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 21 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 | 11 | 52.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 4.8% |
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 Tchula mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 18 | 85.7% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Tchula departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $80,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $9,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $8,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tchula sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,928 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,208 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 626 | 47.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 600 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 510 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 475 | 47.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 473 | 10.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 472 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 416 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 387 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 339 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 338 | 48.4 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 | 39169 | 34 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Tchula. 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.