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2025 County Report

Fires in Copiah County, MS

In 2025, fire departments serving Copiah County responded to 404 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

11,465 residents FIPS 28029 26 cities · 12 fire depts
Total incidents
404
2,117 across 5 years
Building fires
123
121 wildland
Property loss
$3.7M
$2.3M structure · $1.4M contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 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.

404
Total Incidents
Building fires 123 30.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 51 12.6%
Grass fire 51 12.6%
Passenger vehicle fire 34 8.4%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 19 4.7%
All other categories 126 31.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Copiah County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 53
Feb 38
Mar 77
Apr 33
May 12
Jun 29
Jul 13
Aug 45
Sep 37
Oct 55
Nov 5
Dec 7
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Copiah County

2,117 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 273
2022 178
2023 674
2024 588
2025 404
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 123 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
62%
75
Cause undetermined
12%
15
Intentional / arson
4%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
9
Under investigation
10%
12
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
5
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Copiah County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 61% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 Hazlehurst Building fires Significant
2 $200,000 Hazlehurst Building fires Significant
3 $200,000 Wesson Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
4 $190,000 Wesson Building fires Significant
5 $120,000 Wesson Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
6 $100,000 Hazlehurst Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 Hazlehurst Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
8 $100,000 Wesson Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 Wesson Building fires Significant
10 $100,000 Hazlehurst Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
06 How Copiah County compares

Copiah County vs MS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

35.24
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Copiah County
35.24
MS avg
16.75
US avg
7.15
10.73
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Copiah County
10.73
MS avg
2.71
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Copiah County
0
MS avg
22.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Copiah County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 28029.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Copiah County

12 departments report from this county.

Hopewell VFD
Crystal Springs
FDID 15004 56 incidents
Wesson VFD
Wesson
FDID 15007 49 incidents 25 vol
Crystal Springs VFD
Crystal Springs
FDID 15013 49 incidents 40 vol
Smyrna VFD
Hazlehurst
FDID 15005 39 incidents 27 vol
Bethel VFD
Hazlehurst
FDID 15012 27 incidents
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.