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2025 County Report

Fires in Pearl River County, MS

In 2025, fire departments serving Pearl River County responded to 539 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

19,041 residents FIPS 28109 28 cities · 13 fire depts
Total incidents
539
2,175 across 5 years
Building fires
61
259 wildland
Property loss
$2.2M
$1.6M structure · $595K 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 65% of all calls.

539
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 158 29.3%
Building fires 61 11.3%
Grass fire 60 11.1%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 41 7.6%
Passenger vehicle fire 33 6.1%
All other categories 186 34.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Pearl River County?

Mar peaks. Jul dips.

Jan 29
Feb 59
Mar 111
Apr 45
May 34
Jun 32
Jul 12
Aug 42
Sep 50
Oct 68
Nov 15
Dec 42
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Pearl River County

2,175 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 280
2022 231
2023 567
2024 558
2025 539
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 61 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
68%
86
Cause undetermined
10%
13
Intentional / arson
2%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
4%
5
Under investigation
12%
15
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $931K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Pearl River County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 57% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 City of Poplarville Building fires Significant
2 $114,000 Poplarville Building fires Significant
3 $100,000 Picayune Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 Carriere Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
5 $80,000 Picayune Building fires Significant
6 $75,000 Poplarville Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
7 $70,000 Poplarville Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
8 $70,000 Carriere Building fires Significant
9 $62,000 Picayune Building fires Significant
10 $60,000 Poplarville Building fires Significant
06 How Pearl River County compares

Pearl River County vs MS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

28.31
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Pearl River County
28.31
MS avg
16.75
US avg
7.15
3.2
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Pearl River County
3.2
MS avg
2.71
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Pearl River County
0
MS avg
22.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Pearl River County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 28109.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Pearl River County

13 departments report from this county.

Picayune VFD
Picayune
FDID 55010 129 incidents 34 paid
Poplarville Fire Department
Poplarville
FDID 55012 48 incidents 4 paid 24 vol
Amackertown VFD
Poplarville
FDID 55001 0 incidents
Carriere VFD
Carriere
FDID 55002 0 incidents 1 paid 24 vol
Crossroads VFD
poplarville
FDID 55003 0 incidents 14 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.