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2025 County Report

Fires in Wayne County, MS

In 2025, fire departments serving Wayne County responded to 207 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $600K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

6,179 residents FIPS 28153 22 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
207
954 across 5 years
Building fires
26
113 wildland
Property loss
$3.8M
$2.7M structure · $1.1M contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 73% of all calls.

207
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 72 34.8%
Building fires 26 12.6%
Grass fire 21 10.1%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 19 9.2%
Passenger vehicle fire 12 5.8%
All other categories 57 27.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Wayne County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 31
Feb 36
Mar 39
Apr 20
May 9
Jun 12
Jul 9
Aug 23
Sep 14
Oct 13
Nov 0
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Wayne County

954 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 153
2022 41
2023 189
2024 364
2025 207
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 26 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
70%
42
Cause undetermined
10%
6
Intentional / arson
2%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
3%
2
Under investigation
10%
6
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.9M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Wayne County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 68% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $600,000 Waynesboro Building fires Major
2 $212,500 Waynesboro Building fires Significant
3 $170,000 Waynesboro Building fires Significant
4 $158,080 Waynesboro Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
5 $130,000 Waynesboro Building fires Significant
6 $127,500 Waynesboro Building fires Significant
7 $127,500 Waynesboro Building fires Significant
8 $120,000 Waynesboro Building fires Significant
9 $110,500 Waynesboro Building fires Significant
10 $100,000 Waynesboro Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire Significant
06 How Wayne County compares

Wayne County vs MS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

33.5
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Wayne County
33.5
MS avg
16.75
US avg
7.15
4.21
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Wayne County
4.21
MS avg
2.71
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Wayne County
0
MS avg
22.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Wayne County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 28153.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Wayne County

3 departments report from this county.

Wayne County VFD
Waynesboro
FDID 77001 169 incidents 250 vol
Waynesboro VFD
—
FDID 77012 42 incidents
Stateline VFD
State Line
FDID 77010 31 incidents 18 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.