In 2025, fire departments serving West Monroe responded to 643 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,490 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $15.2M cumulative property loss. 6 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 505 | — | |
| 2022 | 762 | +50.9% | |
| 2023 | 849 | +11.4% | |
| 2024 | 731 | -13.9% | |
| 2025 | 643 | -12.0% |
For the 59 building fires West Monroe departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 2,189 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1,045 | 47.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 320 | 14.6% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 125 | 5.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 122 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 84 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 41 | 1.9% | |
| 7 | Exterior, exposed surface | 39 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 37 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 35 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 32 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 309 | 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 West Monroe mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 1,135 | 51.9% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 191 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 186 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Match | 138 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 75 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 58 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 44 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 41 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 37 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 34 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 250 | 11.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by West Monroe departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 53% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $228,805 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $180,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $80,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. West Monroe sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
36 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 8 | |
| 40-49 | 7 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 4 | |
| 80+ | 4 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 14,359 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,669 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,806 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 1,806 | 34.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 929 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 902 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 745 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 632 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 380 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 295 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 274 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 251 | 49.0 mi |
Top 5 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Louisiana cities with population within ±25% of West Monroe. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in West Monroe.
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.