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2025 County Report

Fires in Newton County, AR

In 2025, fire departments serving Newton County responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $98K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

1,516 residents FIPS 05101 44 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
18
99 across 5 years
Building fires
2
11 wildland
Property loss
$151K
$136K structure · $15K 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 72% of all calls.

18
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 4 22.2%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 3 16.7%
Building fires 2 11.1%
Natural vegetation fire, other 2 11.1%
Grass fire 2 11.1%
All other categories 5 27.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Newton County?

Mar peaks. Apr dips.

Jan 5
Feb 3
Mar 6
Apr 0
May 1
Jun 0
Jul 1
Aug 0
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Newton County

99 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 15
2022 17
2023 18
2024 31
2025 18
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 2 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
67%
2
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
33%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

3 fires · $136K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Newton County during 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $98,000 Compton Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
2 $20,000 Jasper Fire, other Significant
3 $17,500 Western Grove Building fires Significant
06 How Newton County compares

Newton County vs AR vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

11.87
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Newton County
11.87
AR avg
11.92
US avg
7.15
1.32
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Newton County
1.32
AR avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Newton County
0
AR avg
16.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Newton County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 05101.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Newton County

9 departments report from this county.

PONCAFIRE TOWER
—
FDID 51008 3 incidents
COMPTON
Compton
FDID 51002 1 incidents 12 vol
HASTY VOL
—
FDID 51009 1 incidents
JASPER
JASPER
FDID 51000 0 incidents 15 vol
DEER VOL
—
FDID 51003 0 incidents 21 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in AR

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 No Mans Land 2006 USFS 8,403
2 Sulphur Mountain 2006 USFS 4,475
3 Big Point 2016 USFS 3,993
4 Pipeline 2016 USFS 3,286
5 21 Lick Creek 2021 NPS 3,250
6 20 Cave Creek 2020 NPS 2,939
7 Walker 2024 USFS 1,844
8 Flat Rock 2001 NPS 1,484
9 Slick Rock Hollow 2013 NPS 1,211
10 ABOUT TIME 1996 NPS 1,073

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.