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2025 County Report

Fires in Jackson County, GA

In 2025, fire departments serving Jackson County responded to 232 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $450K property loss.

45,498 residents FIPS 13157 19 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
232
2,724 across 5 years
Building fires
25
45 wildland
Property loss
$906K
$660K structure · $246K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.

232
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 31 13.4%
Building fires 25 10.8%
Authorized controlled burning 22 9.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 21 9.1%
Passenger vehicle fire 20 8.6%
All other categories 113 48.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Jackson County?

Jul peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 31
Feb 29
Mar 27
Apr 20
May 9
Jun 22
Jul 35
Aug 8
Sep 11
Oct 14
Nov 19
Dec 7
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Jackson County

2,724 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 431
2022 721
2023 623
2024 717
2025 232
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 25 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
59%
49
Cause undetermined
10%
8
Intentional / arson
8%
7
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
8
Under investigation
5%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
8%
5
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $643K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Jackson County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 97% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $450,000 Nicholson Building fires Major
2 $75,000 Braselton Building fires Significant
3 $40,000 BRASELTON Passenger vehicle fire Significant
4 $25,000 HOSCHTON Building fires Significant
5 $20,000 Nicholson Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $12,000 Braselton Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $6,000 Nicholson Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $5,000 Braselton Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
9 $5,000 Braselton Unauthorized burning Significant
10 $5,000 Pendergrass Building fires Significant
06 How Jackson County compares

Jackson County vs GA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

5.1
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Jackson County
5.1
GA avg
2.99
US avg
7.15
0.55
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Jackson County
0.55
GA avg
0.27
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Jackson County
0
GA avg
3.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Jackson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 13157.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Jackson County

10 departments report from this county.

West Jackson Fire Dept
BRASELTON
FDID 07805 114 incidents 5 paid 10 vol
NICHOLSON AREA VOL FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 07808 49 incidents
COMMERCE FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 07802 0 incidents
PLAINVIEW VOL FIRE DEPT
MAYSVILLE
FDID 07803 0 incidents 25 vol
Jefferson FD
Jefferson
FDID 07804 0 incidents
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.