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2025 County Report

Fires in Liberty County, GA

In 2025, fire departments serving Liberty County responded to 187 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

53,560 residents FIPS 13179 22 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
187
1,617 across 5 years
Building fires
21
64 wildland
Property loss
$1.1M
$582K structure · $482K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.

187
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 53 28.3%
Building fires 21 11.2%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 16 8.6%
Passenger vehicle fire 12 6.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 8 4.3%
All other categories 77 41.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Liberty County?

Dec peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 14
Feb 25
Mar 23
Apr 15
May 16
Jun 6
Jul 12
Aug 3
Sep 4
Oct 16
Nov 24
Dec 29
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Liberty County

1,617 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 215
2022 407
2023 373
2024 435
2025 187
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 21 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
44%
25
Cause undetermined
14%
8
Intentional / arson
4%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
19%
11
Under investigation
14%
8
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $554K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Liberty County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 95% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $150,000 Midway Building fires Significant
2 $120,000 Riceboro Building fires Significant
3 $85,000 Gum Branch Building fires Significant
4 $60,000 Riceboro Building fires Significant
5 $50,000 Midway Building fires Significant
6 $25,000 Midway Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
7 $20,000 Gum Branch Building fires Significant
8 $19,023 Midway Building fires Significant
9 $15,000 City of Midway Building fires Significant
10 $10,000 Midway Building fires Significant
06 How Liberty County compares

Liberty County vs GA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

3.49
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Liberty County
3.49
GA avg
2.99
US avg
7.15
0.39
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Liberty County
0.39
GA avg
0.27
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Liberty County
0
GA avg
3.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Liberty County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 13179.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Liberty County

3 departments report from this county.

RICEBORO FIRE DEPARTMENT
RICEBORO
FDID 08905 15 incidents 16 vol
HINESVILLE FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 08901 0 incidents 14 paid
MIDWAY FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 08902 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.