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2025 County Report

Fires in Bolivar County, MS

In 2025, fire departments serving Bolivar County responded to 203 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss.

22,702 residents FIPS 28011 49 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
203
1,129 across 5 years
Building fires
52
32 wildland
Property loss
$3.8M
$2.3M structure · $1.5M contents
Casualties
1 / 4
1 civ deaths · 2 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.

203
Total Incidents
Building fires 52 25.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 35 17.2%
Grass fire 26 12.8%
Passenger vehicle fire 22 10.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 6 3.0%
All other categories 62 30.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Bolivar County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 14
Feb 18
Mar 33
Apr 19
May 22
Jun 12
Jul 7
Aug 29
Sep 22
Oct 17
Nov 1
Dec 9
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Bolivar County

1,129 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 282
2022 89
2023 278
2024 277
2025 203
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 52 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
55%
47
Cause undetermined
15%
13
Intentional / arson
7%
6
Equipment / heat source failure
4%
3
Under investigation
16%
14
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Bolivar County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 71% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 Cleveland Building fires Major
2 $410,000 Cleveland Building fires Major
3 $300,000 Cleveland Building fires Major
4 $80,000 Cleveland Building fires Significant
5 $75,000 Mound Bayou Building fires Significant
6 $65,000 Cleveland Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $60,000 Cleveland Building fires Significant
8 $50,000 Shaw Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle Significant
9 $50,000 Duncan Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
10 $50,000 Cleveland Building fires Significant
06 How Bolivar County compares

Bolivar County vs MS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

8.94
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Bolivar County
8.94
MS avg
16.75
US avg
7.15
2.29
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Bolivar County
2.29
MS avg
2.71
US avg
0.82
44
Civilian fire deaths per million
Bolivar County
44
MS avg
22.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Bolivar County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 28011.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Bolivar County

1 departments report from this county.

Bolivar County VFD
Cleveland
FDID 06007 108 incidents 50 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in MS

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Toms Camp 2023 USFS 5,301
2 Grand Bature Fire 2016 PRI 4,247
3 Range 40 2022 USFS 3,836
4 Range 12 2022 USFS 2,753
5 Baldy North 2023 USFS 2,093
6 Range 45 Northeast 2023 USFS 1,823
7 Indian Creek 2023 USFS 1,771
8 County Line 2023 USFS 1,554
9 Carson Six 2024 USFS 1,346
10 Parces Rd 2024 USFS 1,158

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.