In 2025, fire departments serving Arkansas City responded to 203 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,174 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 223 | — | |
| 2022 | 253 | +13.5% | |
| 2023 | 243 | -4.0% | |
| 2024 | 252 | +3.7% | |
| 2025 | 203 | -19.4% |
For the 22 building fires Arkansas City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 227 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 | 42 | 18.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 31 | 13.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 26 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 20 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 11 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 9 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 58 | 25.6% |
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 Arkansas City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 123 | 54.2% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 20 | 8.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 11 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 10 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 29 | 12.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Arkansas City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $186,960 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $36,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Arkansas City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 183,475 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25,650 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 20,307 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 17,683 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 14,910 | 49.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,000 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 11,382 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 9,077 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 6,400 | 5.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 6,325 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,500 | 46.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,120 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 5,015 | 43.7 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 Kansas cities with population within ±25% of Arkansas City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Arkansas City.
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.