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2025 County Report

Fires in Sunflower County, MS

In 2025, fire departments serving Sunflower County responded to 212 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $80K property loss.

18,223 residents FIPS 28133 37 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
212
1,009 across 5 years
Building fires
73
34 wildland
Property loss
$807K
$561K structure · $246K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 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 74% of all calls.

212
Total Incidents
Building fires 73 34.4%
Passenger vehicle fire 28 13.2%
Grass fire 23 10.8%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 21 9.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 11 5.2%
All other categories 56 26.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Sunflower County?

Aug peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 16
Feb 22
Mar 26
Apr 15
May 23
Jun 11
Jul 8
Aug 27
Sep 26
Oct 24
Nov 4
Dec 10
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Sunflower County

1,009 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 157
2022 110
2023 254
2024 276
2025 212
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 73 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
33%
28
Cause undetermined
31%
26
Intentional / arson
6%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
10
Under investigation
18%
15
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $436K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Sunflower County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 78% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $80,000 Indianola Building fires Significant
2 $80,000 Ruleville Building fires Significant
3 $56,000 Baird Passenger vehicle fire Significant
4 $50,000 Indianola Building fires Significant
5 $50,000 Indianola Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 Indianola Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $20,000 Indianola Building fires Significant
8 $20,000 Indianola Building fires Significant
9 $15,000 Moorhead Building fires Significant
10 $15,000 Moorhead Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Sunflower County compares

Sunflower County vs MS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

11.63
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Sunflower County
11.63
MS avg
16.75
US avg
7.15
4.01
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Sunflower County
4.01
MS avg
2.71
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Sunflower County
0
MS avg
22.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Sunflower County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 28133.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Sunflower County

7 departments report from this county.

Indianola FD
Indianola
FDID 67003 73 incidents 14 paid 20 vol
Ruleville VFD
—
FDID 67006 50 incidents 20 vol
Drew VFD
—
FDID 67002 37 incidents 22 vol
Moorhead VFD
Moorhead
FDID 67005 25 incidents 15 vol
Inverness VFD
—
FDID 67004 18 incidents 22 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.