In 2025, fire departments serving Augusta responded to 98 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $223K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
693 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 167 | — | |
| 2022 | 189 | +13.2% | |
| 2023 | 93 | -50.8% | |
| 2024 | 146 | +57.0% | |
| 2025 | 98 | -32.9% |
For the 10 building fires Augusta departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 186 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 | 34 | 18.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 31 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 25 | 13.4% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 24 | 12.9% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 40 | 21.5% |
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 Augusta mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 81 | 43.5% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 20 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 14 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 10 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Radiated heat from another fire | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 24 | 12.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Augusta departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $222,880 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $26,240 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $13,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Augusta sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 172,295 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30,000 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25,650 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,000 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,700 | 10.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,000 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,800 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 6,400 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,000 | 16.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,500 | 20.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,500 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,945 | 46.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 19.7 mi |
Top 4 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 Augusta. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Augusta.
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.