In 2025, fire departments serving Thaxton responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 87% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
75 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $519K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 13 | — | |
| 2022 | 25 | +92.3% | |
| 2023* | 7 | — | |
| 2024 | 14 | — | |
| 2025 | 16 | +14.3% |
* Well below Thaxton'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 8 building fires Thaxton 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Escalator - exterior, interior | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 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 Thaxton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 61.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 4.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Thaxton departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $3,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Thaxton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 19,860 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 | 17.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Smoking | 1,620 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 38.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,130 | 32.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,092 | 23.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,007 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,005 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 22.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 891 | 25.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 32.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 770 | 34.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 750 | 49.1 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 | 38871 | 75 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Thaxton. 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.