In 2025, fire departments serving Breckenridge Hills responded to 66 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $70K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
107 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $134K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | — | |
| 2022* | 2 | — | |
| 2023* | 7 | — | |
| 2024 | 15 | — | |
| 2025 | 66 | +340.0% |
* Well below Breckenridge Hills'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 9 building fires Breckenridge Hills departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 11 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 | Outside area, other | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 9.1% |
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 Breckenridge Hills mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 36.4% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Breckenridge Hills departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $4,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $300 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Breckenridge Hills sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,916 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,475 | 20.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 360 | 41.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 270 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 265 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 225 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 150 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 42.6 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 Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Breckenridge Hills. 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.