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2025 County Report

Fires in DeKalb County, GA

In 2025, fire departments serving DeKalb County responded to 22 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $80K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

437,098 residents FIPS 13089 36 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
22
16,548 across 5 years
Building fires
1
0 wildland
Property loss
$91K
$81K structure · $10K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Unauthorized burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 77% of all calls.

22
Total Incidents
Unauthorized burning 8 36.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 3 13.6%
Cooking fire, confined to container 2 9.1%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 2 9.1%
Authorized controlled burning 2 9.1%
All other categories 5 22.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in DeKalb County?

Nov peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 0
Feb 0
Mar 0
Apr 0
May 0
Jun 0
Jul 0
Aug 0
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 22
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in DeKalb County

16,548 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 3,770
2022 4,491
2023 4,659
2024 3,606
2025 22
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 1 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
0%
0
Cause undetermined
100%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $81K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in DeKalb County during 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $80,000 Tucker Building fires Significant
2 $1,000 Stone Mountain Cooking fire, confined to container Significant
06 How DeKalb County compares

DeKalb County vs GA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

0.05
Incidents per 1,000 residents
DeKalb County
0.05
GA avg
2.99
US avg
7.15
0
Building fires per 1,000 residents
DeKalb County
0
GA avg
0.27
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
DeKalb County
0
GA avg
3.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in DeKalb County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 13089.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in DeKalb County

3 departments report from this county.

Decaturcity of Fire Dept
—
FDID 04403 0 incidents 45 paid
Stone Mountain Park FD
Stone Mountain
FDID 04404 0 incidents 2 paid
Dekalb County Fire Rescue
Decatur
FDID 04405 0 incidents 824 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.