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2025 County Report

Fires in Pontotoc County, MS

In 2025, fire departments serving Pontotoc County responded to 219 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

10,041 residents FIPS 28115 29 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
219
1,064 across 5 years
Building fires
54
88 wildland
Property loss
$2.1M
$1.4M structure · $696K contents
Casualties
3 / 0
3 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 71% of all calls.

219
Total Incidents
Building fires 54 24.7%
Grass fire 50 22.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 25 11.4%
Passenger vehicle fire 16 7.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 10 4.6%
All other categories 64 29.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Pontotoc County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 23
Feb 17
Mar 52
Apr 17
May 15
Jun 14
Jul 5
Aug 25
Sep 21
Oct 18
Nov 8
Dec 4
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Pontotoc County

1,064 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 161
2022 118
2023 290
2024 276
2025 219
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 54 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
62%
65
Cause undetermined
9%
9
Intentional / arson
4%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
18%
19
Under investigation
3%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
5
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Pontotoc County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 74% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 Thaxton Building fires Significant
2 $150,000 Pontotoc Building fires Significant
3 $120,000 Pontotoc Building fires Significant
4 $110,000 Pontotoc Building fires Significant
5 $110,000 Pontotoc Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 Pontotoc Building fires Significant
7 $80,000 Pontotoc Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
8 $65,000 Pontotoc Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
9 $50,000 Pontotoc Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 Pontotoc Building fires Significant
06 How Pontotoc County compares

Pontotoc County vs MS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

21.81
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Pontotoc County
21.81
MS avg
16.75
US avg
7.15
5.38
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Pontotoc County
5.38
MS avg
2.71
US avg
0.82
298.8
Civilian fire deaths per million
Pontotoc County
298.8
MS avg
22.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Pontotoc County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 28115.

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.