In 2025, fire departments serving West Memphis responded to 292 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 49% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,503 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $21.3M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 303 | — | |
| 2022 | 367 | +21.1% | |
| 2023 | 327 | -10.9% | |
| 2024 | 214 | -34.6% | |
| 2025 | 292 | +36.4% |
For the 43 building fires West Memphis departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 737 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 | 190 | 25.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 112 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 68 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 38 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 36 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 27 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Other | 23 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 20 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 19 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 18 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 186 | 25.2% |
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 West Memphis mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 414 | 56.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 66 | 9.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 52 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 41 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Fireworks | 19 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 18 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 18 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 16 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 15 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 13 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 65 | 8.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by West Memphis departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 53% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. West Memphis 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 4 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,139 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 46.8 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 770 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 750 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 637 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 636 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 29.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 375 | 35.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 48.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 320 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 310 | 46.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 43.2 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 West Memphis. 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.