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2025 County Report

Fires in Leake County, MS

In 2025, fire departments serving Leake County responded to 257 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

6,780 residents FIPS 28079 34 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
257
1,332 across 5 years
Building fires
58
104 wildland
Property loss
$1.3M
$1.1M structure · $169K contents
Casualties
1 / 0
1 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 74% of all calls.

257
Total Incidents
Building fires 58 22.6%
Grass fire 49 19.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 32 12.5%
Passenger vehicle fire 29 11.3%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 23 8.9%
All other categories 66 25.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Leake County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 40
Feb 28
Mar 46
Apr 15
May 7
Jun 5
Jul 3
Aug 31
Sep 27
Oct 45
Nov 2
Dec 8
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Leake County

1,332 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 161
2022 127
2023 416
2024 371
2025 257
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 58 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
72%
54
Cause undetermined
9%
7
Intentional / arson
1%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
5%
4
Under investigation
12%
9
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Leake County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 93% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 Carthage Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
2 $80,000 Carthage Building fires Significant
3 $65,000 Carthage Building fires Significant
4 $60,000 Town of Walnut Grove Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
5 $60,000 Town of Walnut Grove Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
6 $60,000 Town of Walnut Grove Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
7 $60,000 Town of Walnut Grove Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
8 $50,000 Carthage Building fires Significant
9 $50,000 Carthage Building fires Significant
10 $30,000 Carthage Outside equipment fire Significant
06 How Leake County compares

Leake County vs MS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

37.91
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Leake County
37.91
MS avg
16.75
US avg
7.15
8.55
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Leake County
8.55
MS avg
2.71
US avg
0.82
147.5
Civilian fire deaths per million
Leake County
147.5
MS avg
22.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Leake County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 28079.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Leake County

8 departments report from this county.

Carthage FD
Carthage
FDID 40002 69 incidents 8 paid
Leake County Correctional Rural FD
Carthage
FDID 40011 64 incidents
Madden VFD
Walnut Grove
FDID 40005 24 incidents 21 vol
Barnes VFD
Carthage
FDID 40001 19 incidents
Edinburg VFD
Carthage
FDID 40003 18 incidents 17 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.