In 2025, fire departments serving Thomaston responded to 149 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,128 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $840K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 212 | — | |
| 2022 | 272 | +28.3% | |
| 2023 | 240 | -11.8% | |
| 2024 | 255 | +6.2% | |
| 2025 | 149 | -41.6% |
For the 3 building fires Thomaston departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 187 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 | 43 | 23.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 27 | 14.4% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 18 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 15 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 13 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 11 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 11 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Other | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 34 | 18.2% |
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 Thomaston mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 83 | 44.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 19 | 10.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 11 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 23 | 12.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Thomaston departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Thomaston sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,922 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 522 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 5.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 356 | 7.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 348 | 8.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 305 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 305 | 38.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 289 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 256 | 15.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 235 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 224 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 214 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 210 | 31.8 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 | 30286 | 1,128 |
Six Georgia cities with population within ±25% of Thomaston. 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.