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2025 County Report

Fires in Jones County, MS

In 2025, fire departments serving Jones County responded to 1,069 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $6.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

24,953 residents FIPS 28067 41 cities · 19 fire depts
Total incidents
1,069
4,371 across 5 years
Building fires
208
346 wildland
Property loss
$14.1M
$9.6M structure · $4.6M contents
Casualties
1 / 1
1 civ deaths · 1 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 62% of all calls.

1,069
Total Incidents
Building fires 208 19.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 164 15.3%
Grass fire 156 14.6%
Passenger vehicle fire 72 6.7%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 64 6.0%
All other categories 405 37.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Jones County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 135
Feb 123
Mar 184
Apr 68
May 87
Jun 55
Jul 28
Aug 102
Sep 134
Oct 109
Nov 22
Dec 22
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Jones County

4,371 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 492
2022 344
2023 1,188
2024 1,278
2025 1,069
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 208 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
58%
129
Cause undetermined
14%
31
Intentional / arson
5%
12
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
23
Under investigation
12%
26
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $8.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Jones County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 86% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $6,000,000 City of Laurel Building fires Catastrophic
2 $750,000 Laurel Building fires Major
3 $312,000 Laurel Building fires Major
4 $300,000 Moselle Building fires Major
5 $204,000 Laurel Building fires Significant
6 $200,000 Laurel Building fires Significant
7 $157,000 Laurel Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 Laurel Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 Laurel Building fires Significant
10 $100,000 City of Laurel Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
06 How Jones County compares

Jones County vs MS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

42.84
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Jones County
42.84
MS avg
16.75
US avg
7.15
8.34
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Jones County
8.34
MS avg
2.71
US avg
0.82
40.1
Civilian fire deaths per million
Jones County
40.1
MS avg
22.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Jones County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 28067.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Jones County

19 departments report from this county.

POWERS
LAUREL
FDID 34011 74 incidents 29 vol
SANDERSVILLE
LAUREL
FDID 34015 71 incidents 15 vol
SOSO
LAUREL
FDID 34018 65 incidents 20 vol
South Jones
Ellisville
FDID 34017 58 incidents 15 vol
PLEASANT RIDGE
LAUREL
FDID 34010 55 incidents 5 vol
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.