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2025 County Report

Fires in Pope County, AR

In 2025, fire departments serving Pope County responded to 585 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

38,362 residents FIPS 05115 39 cities · 13 fire depts
Total incidents
585
3,827 across 5 years
Building fires
109
131 wildland
Property loss
$4.2M
$3.0M structure · $1.3M contents
Casualties
1 / 2
1 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.

585
Total Incidents
Building fires 109 18.6%
Grass fire 82 14.0%
Unauthorized burning 76 13.0%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 45 7.7%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 39 6.7%
All other categories 234 40.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Pope County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 66
Feb 41
Mar 169
Apr 51
May 51
Jun 22
Jul 38
Aug 63
Sep 31
Oct 14
Nov 19
Dec 20
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Pope County

3,827 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 663
2022 872
2023 799
2024 908
2025 585
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 109 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
41%
62
Cause undetermined
30%
45
Intentional / arson
6%
9
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
13
Under investigation
11%
16
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Pope County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 79% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,000,000 Russellville Building fires Major
2 $270,000 DOVER Building fires Major
3 $185,000 Russellville Building fires Significant
4 $180,000 Russellville Building fires Significant
5 $160,000 Dover Building fires Significant
6 $150,000 RUSSELLVILLE Building fires Significant
7 $150,000 Russellville Building fires Significant
8 $90,000 Atkins Building fires Significant
9 $80,000 Russellville Building fires Significant
10 $75,000 Hector Building fires Significant
06 How Pope County compares

Pope County vs AR vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

15.25
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Pope County
15.25
AR avg
11.92
US avg
7.15
2.84
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Pope County
2.84
AR avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
26.1
Civilian fire deaths per million
Pope County
26.1
AR avg
16.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Pope County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 05115.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Pope County

13 departments report from this county.

RUSSELLVILLE
—
FDID 58300 235 incidents 21 paid
LONDON FIRE DEPARTMENT
London
FDID 58005 56 incidents 18 vol
CROW MOUNTAIN
Russellville
FDID 58008 54 incidents 15 vol
HECTOR
Hector
FDID 58004 39 incidents 23 vol
DOVER RURAL
—
FDID 58003 35 incidents 12 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.