In 2025, fire departments serving Van Buren responded to 156 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
960 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4.6M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 209 | — | |
| 2022 | 241 | +15.3% | |
| 2023 | 177 | -26.6% | |
| 2024 | 177 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 156 | -11.9% |
For the 15 building fires Van Buren departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 511 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 | Outside area, other | 99 | 19.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 73 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 72 | 14.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 41 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 34 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 28 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 21 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 11 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Other | 10 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 9 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 113 | 22.1% |
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 Van Buren mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 256 | 50.1% | |
| 2 | Match | 36 | 7.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 34 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 23 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 21 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 21 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 16 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 15 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 14 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 13 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 62 | 12.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Van Buren departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Grass fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $160,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Van Buren sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
8 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 80,433 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,000 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,370 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,050 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,800 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,700 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,700 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,285 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,240 | 19.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,220 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,200 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,200 | 45.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,770 | 14.3 mi |
Top 6 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Arkansas cities with population within ±25% of Van Buren. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Van Buren.
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.