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2025 County Report

Fires in Clayton County, GA

In 2025, fire departments serving Clayton County responded to 478 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $630K property loss.

76,710 residents FIPS 13063 17 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
478
8,375 across 5 years
Building fires
64
111 wildland
Property loss
$8.0M
$6.0M structure · $2.0M contents
Casualties
0 / 6
0 civ deaths · 2 civ inj · 4 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Grass fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.

478
Total Incidents
Grass fire 69 14.4%
Building fires 64 13.4%
Unauthorized burning 50 10.5%
Power line down 49 10.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 37 7.7%
All other categories 209 43.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Clayton County?

Mar peaks. Apr dips.

Jan 154
Feb 151
Mar 173
Apr 0
May 0
Jun 0
Jul 0
Aug 0
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Clayton County

8,375 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,771
2022 2,165
2023 2,054
2024 1,907
2025 478
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 64 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
40%
53
Cause undetermined
13%
17
Intentional / arson
5%
7
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
14
Under investigation
25%
33
Act of nature (lightning)
6%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $4.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Clayton County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 77% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $630,000 Morrow Building fires Major
2 $630,000 Morrow Building fires Major
3 $630,000 Morrow Building fires Major
4 $630,000 Morrow Building fires Major
5 $550,000 Morrow Building fires Major
6 $472,000 Jonesboro Building fires Major
7 $300,000 Jonesboro Building fires Major
8 $300,000 Jonesboro Building fires Major
9 $280,000 Jonesboro Building fires Major
10 $175,000 Riverdale Building fires Significant
06 How Clayton County compares

Clayton County vs GA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.23
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Clayton County
6.23
GA avg
2.99
US avg
7.15
0.83
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Clayton County
0.83
GA avg
0.27
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Clayton County
0
GA avg
3.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Clayton County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 13063.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Clayton County

4 departments report from this county.

Clayton Co Fire Emer Svcs
Riverdale
FDID 03101 606 incidents 297 paid
Riverdale Fire Dept
Riverdale
FDID 03102 0 incidents 32 paid
Forest Park Fire Dept
—
FDID 03103 0 incidents
Morrow Fire Department
Morrow
FDID 03105 0 incidents 28 paid
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in GA

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 West Mims 2017 FWS 152,527
2 GAOKR-FY19-RX-Blackjack Island 2019 FWS 3,367
3 South Cut 2008 NPS 2,581
4 St. Catherines Island 2022 USFS 2,213
5 GAOKR-FY19-RX-Strange Island 2019 FWS 1,999
6 GAPDR-FY19-RX-6C/7S/8A/8B 2019 FWS 1,172
7 Barrow's Fire 2016 PRI 1,034
8 GAOKR-FY19-RX-Mitchell Island 2019 FWS 1,027
9 The Nicki Fire 2014 FWS 1,022
10 GAPDR-FY19-RX-27A/Stephens 2019 FWS 972

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.