In 2025, fire departments serving Vilonia responded to 167 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K 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 65% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,002 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $5.0M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 179 | — | |
| 2022 | 268 | +49.7% | |
| 2023 | 211 | -21.3% | |
| 2024 | 177 | -16.1% | |
| 2025 | 167 | -5.6% |
For the 15 building fires Vilonia departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 304 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 | 81 | 26.6% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 79 | 26.0% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 23 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 22 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 16 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 11 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Other | 9 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 5 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 43 | 14.1% |
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 Vilonia mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 173 | 56.9% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 24 | 7.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 13 | 4.3% | |
| 4 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 11 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 10 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 10 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 10 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 27 | 8.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Vilonia departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 88% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | 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. Vilonia sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,645 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 14.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,401 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 954 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 825 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 736 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 705 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 695 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 636 | 9.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 540 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 524 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 471 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 441 | 49.8 mi |
Top 4 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 Vilonia. 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.