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2025 County Report

Fires in Clay County, AR

In 2025, fire departments serving Clay County responded to 89 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss.

9,815 residents FIPS 05021 30 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
89
440 across 5 years
Building fires
13
23 wildland
Property loss
$493K
$314K structure · $179K contents
Casualties
1 / 1
1 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Fire, other lead by count. Top five categories make up about 73% of all calls.

89
Total Incidents
Fire, other 28 31.5%
Building fires 13 14.6%
Grass fire 13 14.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 6 6.7%
Passenger vehicle fire 5 5.6%
All other categories 24 27.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Clay County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 13
Feb 4
Mar 30
Apr 7
May 6
Jun 5
Jul 5
Aug 3
Sep 8
Oct 2
Nov 1
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Clay County

440 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 79
2022 105
2023 80
2024 87
2025 89
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 13 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
76%
45
Cause undetermined
7%
4
Intentional / arson
7%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
4
Under investigation
2%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $295K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Clay County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 94% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 Rector Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 Rector Building fires Significant
3 $40,000 Rector Building fires Significant
4 $10,000 Greenway Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
5 $10,000 Rector Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $10,000 Rector Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
7 $8,000 Rector Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
8 $7,000 Greenway Fire in portable building, fixed location Significant
9 $5,000 mc dougal Building fires Significant
10 $5,000 Rector Building fires Significant
06 How Clay County compares

Clay County vs AR vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.07
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Clay County
9.07
AR avg
11.92
US avg
7.15
1.32
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Clay County
1.32
AR avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
101.9
Civilian fire deaths per million
Clay County
101.9
AR avg
16.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Clay County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 05021.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Clay County

10 departments report from this county.

PIGGOTT
—
FDID 11002 28 incidents
RECTOR
—
FDID 11004 27 incidents
MCDOUGAL VOL
—
FDID 11010 10 incidents
GREENWAY
—
FDID 11001 9 incidents 19 vol
POLLARD
—
FDID 11003 8 incidents 17 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in AR

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 No Mans Land 2006 USFS 8,403
2 Sulphur Mountain 2006 USFS 4,475
3 Big Point 2016 USFS 3,993
4 Pipeline 2016 USFS 3,286
5 21 Lick Creek 2021 NPS 3,250
6 20 Cave Creek 2020 NPS 2,939
7 Walker 2024 USFS 1,844
8 Flat Rock 2001 NPS 1,484
9 Slick Rock Hollow 2013 NPS 1,211
10 ABOUT TIME 1996 NPS 1,073

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.