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2025 County Report

Fires in Calcasieu Parish, LA

In 2025, fire departments serving Calcasieu Parish responded to 2,015 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

144,751 residents FIPS 22019 42 cities · 18 fire depts
Total incidents
2,015
13,132 across 5 years
Building fires
244
309 wildland
Property loss
$14.6M
$11.4M structure · $3.2M contents
Casualties
2 / 8
2 civ deaths · 4 civ inj · 4 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 47% of all calls.

2,015
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 274 13.6%
Building fires 244 12.1%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 148 7.3%
Grass fire 142 7.0%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 142 7.0%
All other categories 1,065 52.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Calcasieu Parish?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 213
Feb 153
Mar 250
Apr 218
May 177
Jun 167
Jul 175
Aug 143
Sep 146
Oct 154
Nov 122
Dec 97
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Calcasieu Parish

13,132 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 2,343
2022 2,990
2023 2,900
2024 2,884
2025 2,015
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 244 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
38%
254
Cause undetermined
28%
189
Intentional / arson
16%
108
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
48
Under investigation
6%
43
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
16
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.8M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Calcasieu Parish during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 33% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,000,000 LAKE CHARLES Building fires Major
2 $500,000 LAKE CHARLES Building fires Major
3 $400,000 LAKE CHARLES Building fires Major
4 $400,000 LAKE CHARLES Building fires Major
5 $250,000 LAKE CHARLES Building fires Major
6 $250,000 LAKE CHARLES Building fires Major
7 $250,000 Sulphur Building fires Major
8 $250,000 LAKE CHARLES Building fires Major
9 $250,000 Iowa Building fires Major
10 $240,000 LAKE CHARLES Building fires Significant
06 How Calcasieu Parish compares

Calcasieu Parish vs LA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.92
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Calcasieu Parish
13.92
LA avg
9.63
US avg
7.15
1.69
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Calcasieu Parish
1.69
LA avg
1.29
US avg
0.82
13.8
Civilian fire deaths per million
Calcasieu Parish
13.8
LA avg
15.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Calcasieu Parish

12 cities mapped to FIPS 22019.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Calcasieu Parish

18 departments report from this county.

Lake Charles Fire Dept
—
FDID 10020 958 incidents
Ward 6 Fire Dept
DeQuincy
FDID 10055 139 incidents 1 paid
CALCASIEU WARD 7 FPD 1
—
FDID 10040 137 incidents
Ward 1 Fire Protection Dist
—
FDID 10025 129 incidents
Westlake VFD
Westlake
FDID 10045 120 incidents 12 paid 25 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in LA

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Cinnamon Teal Fire 2014 FWS 11,235
2 Pintail Fire 2014 FWS 8,889
3 Sac a Lait 2019 FWS 7,445
4 Wilderness 1987 USFS 7,089
5 LEONARD FIRE 2013 FWS 6,396
6 Cottonmouth 2016 FWS 6,389
7 CICADA 2010 FWS 6,270
8 Threat 1 2016 PRI 5,370
9 Wrangler 2010 USFS 4,363
10 Anole 2016 FWS 3,563

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.