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2025 County Report

Fires in Perry County, AR

In 2025, fire departments serving Perry County responded to 98 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

2,664 residents FIPS 05105 25 cities · 11 fire depts
Total incidents
98
408 across 5 years
Building fires
18
36 wildland
Property loss
$900K
$744K structure · $156K 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 59% of all calls.

98
Total Incidents
Building fires 18 18.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 13 13.3%
Grass fire 11 11.2%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 8 8.2%
Unauthorized burning 8 8.2%
All other categories 40 40.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Perry County?

Mar peaks. Jul dips.

Jan 17
Feb 4
Mar 27
Apr 14
May 3
Jun 3
Jul 2
Aug 4
Sep 9
Oct 5
Nov 3
Dec 7
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Perry County

408 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 78
2022 89
2023 73
2024 70
2025 98
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 18 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
52%
17
Cause undetermined
21%
7
Intentional / arson
6%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
3
Under investigation
3%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
9%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $688K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 Bigelow Building fires Major
2 $150,000 Perry Building fires Significant
3 $81,000 Roland Building fires Significant
4 $62,000 Bigelow Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
5 $50,000 Bigelow Building fires Significant
6 $30,000 Houston Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
7 $25,000 Houston Fire, other Significant
8 $15,000 Perryville Building fires Significant
9 $15,000 Perryville Building fires Significant
10 $10,000 Bigelow Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
06 How Perry County compares

Perry County vs AR vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

36.79
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Perry County
36.79
AR avg
11.92
US avg
7.15
6.76
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Perry County
6.76
AR avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
375.4
Civilian fire deaths per million
Perry County
375.4
AR avg
16.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Perry County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 05105.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Perry County

11 departments report from this county.

CHERRY HILL
perryville
FDID 53007 16 incidents 25 vol
BIGELOW
BIGELOW
FDID 53008 13 incidents 17 vol
WILLIAMS JUNCTION VOL
Perryville
FDID 53011 12 incidents 17 vol
HOLLIS VOL
—
FDID 53012 7 incidents
PERRYVILLE
—
FDID 53002 4 incidents
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.