In 2025, fire departments serving Blue Rapids responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Natural vegetation fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 87% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
69 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $100K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 9 | — | |
| 2022* | 5 | — | |
| 2023 | 14 | — | |
| 2024 | 26 | +85.7% | |
| 2025 | 15 | -42.3% |
* Well below Blue Rapids'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 0 building fires Blue Rapids departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | 41.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 29.4% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Blue Rapids mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 5 | 29.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 4 | 23.5% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 5.9% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Blue Rapids sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 83,131 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,000 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,000 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,500 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,289 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,278 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,000 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,800 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 13.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,500 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,000 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,000 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,490 | 32.0 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 Kansas cities with population within ±25% of Blue Rapids. 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.