In 2025, fire departments serving Toomsuba responded to 42 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $76K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 74% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
176 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $571K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 17 | — | |
| 2022* | 16 | — | |
| 2023 | 52 | — | |
| 2024 | 49 | -5.8% | |
| 2025 | 42 | -14.3% |
* Well below Toomsuba'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 6 building fires Toomsuba departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 48 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 | 21 | 43.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 20.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - 5+ persons; including barrack/dormitory | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Closet | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 4.2% |
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 Toomsuba mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 33 | 68.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 6 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 7 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 2.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Toomsuba departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $76,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $18,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Toomsuba sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 16,567 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 4,212 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 892 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 823 | 16.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 470 | 45.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 420 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 403 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 3.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 365 | 22.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 9.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 345 | 32.2 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 | 39364 | 176 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Toomsuba. 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.