In 2025, fire departments serving Argonia responded to 22 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
95 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $218K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 18 | — | |
| 2022 | 21 | +16.7% | |
| 2023* | 11 | — | |
| 2024 | 23 | — | |
| 2025 | 22 | -4.3% |
* Well below Argonia'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 1 building fires Argonia departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 6 | 30.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 5.0% |
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 Argonia mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 45.0% | |
| 2 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Lightning | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Argonia departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Vehicle accident, general cleanup | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,500 | Arcing, shorted electrical equipment | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Argonia sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 35,246 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 6,400 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,400 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,015 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,000 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,400 | 38.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,528 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 810 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 32.4 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 67004 | 95 |
Six Kansas cities with population within ±25% of Argonia. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Argonia.
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.