In 2025, fire departments serving Walnut responded to 41 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K 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 76% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
175 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $847K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 12 | — | |
| 2022 | 25 | — | |
| 2023 | 60 | +140.0% | |
| 2024 | 37 | -38.3% | |
| 2025 | 41 | +10.8% |
* Well below Walnut'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 6 building fires Walnut departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 56 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 | 42 | 75.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 5.4% | |
| 4 | Other | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Interior stairway or ramp | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Vacant structural area | 1 | 1.8% |
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 Walnut mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 41 | 73.2% | |
| 2 | Molten, hot material | 3 | 5.4% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 1.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Walnut departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $500 | Heat from short circuit (wiring), defective/worn | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Walnut sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 17,661 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 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,344 | 36.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,130 | 26.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,092 | 37.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,007 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,005 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 25.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 891 | 41.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 38.3 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 770 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 636 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 537 | 15.6 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 | 38683 | 175 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Walnut. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Walnut.
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.