In 2025, fire departments serving Vicksburg responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Road freight or transport vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
56 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $525K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | — | |
| 2022* | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 11 | — | |
| 2024 | 14 | +27.3% | |
| 2025 | 14 | +0.0% |
* Well below Vicksburg'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 0 building fires Vicksburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 43 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 | 11 | 25.6% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 18.6% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 16.3% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 4 | 9.3% | |
| 6 | Other | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Structural area, other | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 2.3% |
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 Vicksburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 28 | 65.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 5 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Match | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Sunlight | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 2.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Vicksburg departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Vicksburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 76,912 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Firearms and explosives use | 26,000 | 39.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 15,980 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 5,300 | 30.7 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 4,824 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Recreation and ceremony | 4,421 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,800 | 39.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,360 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,034 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,300 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,300 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,280 | 49.3 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 39.9 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 | 85348 | 56 |
Six Arizona cities with population within ±25% of Vicksburg. 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.