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2025 County Report

Fires in St. Mary Parish, LA

In 2025, fire departments serving St. Mary Parish responded to 318 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $75K property loss.

39,419 residents FIPS 22101 64 cities · 11 fire depts
Total incidents
318
1,789 across 5 years
Building fires
43
14 wildland
Property loss
$627K
$510K structure · $117K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.

318
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 59 18.6%
Building fires 43 13.5%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 33 10.4%
Power line down 26 8.2%
Passenger vehicle fire 22 6.9%
All other categories 135 42.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in St. Mary Parish?

Jan peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 49
Feb 39
Mar 32
Apr 37
May 43
Jun 27
Jul 31
Aug 13
Sep 19
Oct 9
Nov 10
Dec 9
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in St. Mary Parish

1,789 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 294
2022 259
2023 342
2024 576
2025 318
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 43 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
55%
48
Cause undetermined
24%
21
Intentional / arson
3%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
9
Under investigation
5%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $375K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $75,000 Morgan City Building fires Significant
2 $75,000 Morgan City Building fires Significant
3 $40,000 Morgan City Building fires Significant
4 $30,000 BAYOU VISTA Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $30,000 Patterson Building fires Significant
6 $30,000 FRANKLIN Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
7 $25,000 Patterson Building fires Significant
8 $25,000 Centerville Building fires Significant
9 $25,000 Morgan City Building fires Significant
10 $20,000 Morgan City Building fires Significant
06 How St. Mary Parish compares

St. Mary Parish vs LA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

8.07
Incidents per 1,000 residents
St. Mary Parish
8.07
LA avg
9.63
US avg
7.15
1.09
Building fires per 1,000 residents
St. Mary Parish
1.09
LA avg
1.29
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
St. Mary Parish
0
LA avg
15.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in St. Mary Parish

12 cities mapped to FIPS 22101.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in St. Mary Parish

11 departments report from this county.

MORGAN CITY FD
—
FDID 51035 86 incidents
FRANKLIN FD
Franklin
FDID 51030 51 incidents 5 paid 8 vol
PATTERSON VFD
—
FDID 51040 40 incidents
CHITIMACHA FIRE PRO DIST
—
FDID 51045 38 incidents
ST MARY FIRE PRO DIST 11
—
FDID 51027 30 incidents
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in LA

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Cinnamon Teal Fire 2014 FWS 11,235
2 Pintail Fire 2014 FWS 8,889
3 Sac a Lait 2019 FWS 7,445
4 Wilderness 1987 USFS 7,089
5 LEONARD FIRE 2013 FWS 6,396
6 Cottonmouth 2016 FWS 6,389
7 CICADA 2010 FWS 6,270
8 Threat 1 2016 PRI 5,370
9 Wrangler 2010 USFS 4,363
10 Anole 2016 FWS 3,563

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.