In 2025, fire departments serving Asbury responded to 13 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 85% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
42 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $118K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 10 | — | |
| 2023 | 8 | -20.0% | |
| 2024 | 7 | -12.5% | |
| 2025 | 13 | +85.7% |
* Well below Asbury'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 3 building fires Asbury 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 | 7 | 35.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 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 Asbury mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 55.0% | |
| 2 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Fireworks | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Match | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Asbury departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Asbury sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 20,575 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,200 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,580 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,560 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 1,300 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,300 | 42.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 903 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 876 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 602 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 600 | 12.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 28.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 595 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 580 | 41.8 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 | 64832 | 42 |
Six Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Asbury. 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.