In 2025, fire departments serving Verona responded to 57 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
242 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $729K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 46 | — | |
| 2022* | 17 | — | |
| 2023 | 64 | — | |
| 2024 | 58 | -9.4% | |
| 2025 | 57 | -1.7% |
* Well below Verona'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 9 building fires Verona departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 68 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 | 27 | 39.7% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 14.7% |
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 Verona mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 48 | 70.6% | |
| 2 | Conducted heat from another fire | 4 | 5.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 4.4% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Incendiary device | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 7.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Verona departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Verona sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 14,912 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 | 42.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Smoking | 1,620 | 10.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,344 | 45.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,092 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,005 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 608 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 537 | 43.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 459 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 453 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 42.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 20.7 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 | 38879 | 242 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Verona. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Verona.
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.