In 2025, fire departments serving Zachary responded to 218 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,064 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.5M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 183 | — | |
| 2022 | 177 | -3.3% | |
| 2023 | 234 | +32.2% | |
| 2024 | 252 | +7.7% | |
| 2025 | 218 | -13.5% |
For the 19 building fires Zachary departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 338 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 | 63 | 18.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 61 | 18.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 42 | 12.4% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 38 | 11.2% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 31 | 9.2% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 15 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Other | 10 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 5 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 55 | 16.3% |
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 Zachary mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 164 | 48.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 25 | 7.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 19 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 19 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 13 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 13 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 12 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 11 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 10 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 43 | 12.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Zachary departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 94% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $16,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $16,000 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Zachary sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,233 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 4,110 | 40.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 570 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 491 | 42.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 453 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 450 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 408 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 37.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 365 | 48.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 360 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 273 | 47.5 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 Zachary. 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.