In 2025, fire departments serving Water Valley responded to 90 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires 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.
361 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.1M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 70 | — | |
| 2022* | 25 | — | |
| 2023 | 93 | — | |
| 2024 | 83 | -10.8% | |
| 2025 | 90 | +8.4% |
* Well below Water Valley'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 18 building fires Water Valley departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 133 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 | 47 | 35.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 15 | 11.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 6 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Function area, other | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 31 | 23.3% |
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 Water Valley mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 69 | 51.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 10 | 7.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 9 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 15 | 11.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Water Valley departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Water Valley sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 18,077 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 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 29.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,130 | 44.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,092 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,005 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 42.7 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 891 | 29.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 870 | 36.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 770 | 40.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 750 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 720 | 11.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 637 | 35.2 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 | 38965 | 361 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Water Valley. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Water Valley.
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.