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2025 County Report

Fires in Crawford County, AR

In 2025, fire departments serving Crawford County responded to 272 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

35,365 residents FIPS 05033 40 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
272
1,987 across 5 years
Building fires
37
67 wildland
Property loss
$2.9M
$2.4M structure · $488K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Grass fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.

272
Total Incidents
Grass fire 48 17.6%
Building fires 37 13.6%
Passenger vehicle fire 25 9.2%
Unauthorized burning 24 8.8%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 20 7.4%
All other categories 118 43.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Crawford County?

Mar peaks. Jul dips.

Jan 33
Feb 20
Mar 49
Apr 25
May 23
Jun 16
Jul 9
Aug 12
Sep 21
Oct 22
Nov 15
Dec 27
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Crawford County

1,987 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 493
2022 562
2023 324
2024 336
2025 272
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 37 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
47%
59
Cause undetermined
28%
35
Intentional / arson
8%
10
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
14
Under investigation
4%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Crawford County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 88% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,000,000 Van Buren Grass fire Major
2 $198,400 Cedarville Building fires Significant
3 $160,000 Van Buren Building fires Significant
4 $150,000 Alma Building fires Significant
5 $134,050 Cedarville Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 Alma Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 Alma Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 Alma Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $100,000 Cedarville Building fires Significant
10 $60,000 Van Buren Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Crawford County compares

Crawford County vs AR vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

7.69
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Crawford County
7.69
AR avg
11.92
US avg
7.15
1.05
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Crawford County
1.05
AR avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Crawford County
0
AR avg
16.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Crawford County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 05033.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Crawford County

10 departments report from this county.

VAN BUREN
Van Buren
FDID 17008 139 incidents 49 paid
CRAWFORD CO DIST 1BDRG
—
FDID 17007 98 incidents 56 vol
ALMA
—
FDID 17000 18 incidents
DYER
—
FDID 17003 2 incidents
CRAWFORD CO DIST7
—
FDID 17004 0 incidents 20 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.