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2025 County Report

Fires in Smith County, MS

In 2025, fire departments serving Smith County responded to 141 fire and hazmat incidents. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

3,932 residents FIPS 28129 19 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
141
575 across 5 years
Building fires
16
83 wildland
Property loss
$0
$0 structure · $0 contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Grass fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.

141
Total Incidents
Grass fire 56 39.7%
Fires in structures other than in a building 18 12.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 18 12.8%
Building fires 16 11.3%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 9 6.4%
All other categories 24 17.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Smith County?

Sep peaks. Jun dips.

Jan 13
Feb 14
Mar 22
Apr 18
May 8
Jun 0
Jul 4
Aug 9
Sep 29
Oct 16
Nov 6
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Smith County

575 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 74
2022 39
2023 191
2024 130
2025 141
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 16 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
70%
45
Cause undetermined
5%
3
Intentional / arson
12%
8
Equipment / heat source failure
5%
3
Under investigation
6%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
1
06 How Smith County compares

Smith County vs MS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

35.86
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Smith County
35.86
MS avg
16.75
US avg
7.15
4.07
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Smith County
4.07
MS avg
2.71
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Smith County
0
MS avg
22.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Smith County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 28129.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Smith County

6 departments report from this county.

Taylorsville Volunteer Fire
Taylorsville
FDID 65002 53 incidents 21 vol
Mize Volunteer Fire Dept
Mize
FDID 65003 40 incidents 20 vol
Sylvarena Volunteer Fire Dept
Raleigh
FDID 65006 32 incidents
Raleigh Volunteer Fire Dept
Raleigh
FDID 65001 31 incidents 20 vol
Polkville Volunteer Fire Dept
Morton
FDID 65004 26 incidents 16 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.