In 2025, fire departments serving Archie responded to 42 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K 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 52% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
81 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $251K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 7 | — | |
| 2022* | 4 | — | |
| 2023* | 7 | — | |
| 2024 | 21 | — | |
| 2025 | 42 | +100.0% |
* Well below Archie'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 8 building fires Archie departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 26 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 | 10 | 38.5% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 19.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Multiple areas | 1 | 3.8% |
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 Archie mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 19 | 73.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 3.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Archie departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Archie sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 25,738 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,000 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,082 | 29.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,654 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,129 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,017 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 750 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 20.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 723 | 43.6 mi |
Top 2 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 Archie. 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.