In 2025, fire departments serving Vardaman responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
119 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $25K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 22 | — | |
| 2022* | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 19 | — | |
| 2024 | 45 | +136.8% | |
| 2025 | 26 | -42.2% |
* Well below Vardaman'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 5 building fires Vardaman departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 36 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 | 25 | 69.4% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - 5+ persons; including barrack/dormitory | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 2.8% |
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 Vardaman mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 32 | 88.9% | |
| 2 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 4 | Match | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 2.8% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Vardaman sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,031 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 | 43.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Smoking | 1,620 | 39.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,092 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 720 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 626 | 30.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 583 | 38.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 485 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 475 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 20.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 35.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 24.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 390 | 21.4 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 | 38878 | 119 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Vardaman. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Vardaman.
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.