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2025 County Report

Fires in Lee County, MS

In 2025, fire departments serving Lee County responded to 851 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $2.0M property loss.

55,518 residents FIPS 28081 30 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
851
3,891 across 5 years
Building fires
153
196 wildland
Property loss
$6.8M
$5.6M structure · $1.1M contents
Casualties
0 / 6
0 civ deaths · 2 civ inj · 4 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.

851
Total Incidents
Building fires 153 18.0%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 117 13.7%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 82 9.6%
Grass fire 78 9.2%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 70 8.2%
All other categories 351 41.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Lee County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 92
Feb 73
Mar 200
Apr 72
May 74
Jun 59
Jul 38
Aug 72
Sep 68
Oct 68
Nov 9
Dec 26
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Lee County

3,891 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 607
2022 570
2023 867
2024 996
2025 851
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 153 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
53%
104
Cause undetermined
18%
36
Intentional / arson
7%
14
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
21
Under investigation
8%
15
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
5
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $4.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Lee County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 73% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $2,000,000 Tupelo Building fires Major
2 $500,000 Tupelo Building fires Major
3 $455,000 Tupelo Building fires Major
4 $250,000 Tupelo Building fires Major
5 $200,000 Guntown Building fires Significant
6 $175,000 Tupelo Building fires Significant
7 $170,000 Saltillo Building fires Significant
8 $130,000 Tupelo Building fires Significant
9 $130,000 Tupelo Building fires Significant
10 $115,000 Tupelo Building fires Significant
06 How Lee County compares

Lee County vs MS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

15.33
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Lee County
15.33
MS avg
16.75
US avg
7.15
2.76
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Lee County
2.76
MS avg
2.71
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Lee County
0
MS avg
22.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Lee County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 28081.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Lee County

3 departments report from this county.

Verona Fire Dept
Verona
FDID 41012 71 incidents 9 paid
South Lee VFD
SHANNON
FDID 41016 15 incidents 14 vol
TUPELO AIRPORT FD
TUPELO
FDID 41019 6 incidents 8 paid
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.