In 2025, fire departments serving Arcadia responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 77% of all calls.
Jan peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
44 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $90K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023* | 0 | — | |
| 2024 | 22 | — | |
| 2025 | 17 | -22.7% |
* Well below Arcadia's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 5 building fires Arcadia departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 11 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 36.4% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Vacant structural area | 1 | 9.1% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Arcadia mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Lightning | 1 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Arcadia departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Arcadia sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 26,267 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,761 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,422 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,146 | 19.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,595 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,227 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,026 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 971 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 810 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 39.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 740 | 47.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 730 | 25.1 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Arcadia. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.