In 2025, fire departments serving Chetopa responded to 58 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $120K 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. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
296 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $762K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 57 | — | |
| 2022 | 99 | +73.7% | |
| 2023* | 25 | — | |
| 2024 | 57 | — | |
| 2025 | 58 | +1.8% |
* Well below Chetopa'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 11 building fires Chetopa departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 100 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 | 57 | 57.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Function area, other | 6 | 6.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Other | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Assembly or sales area, other | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 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 Chetopa mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 60 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 9.0% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 6.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Chetopa departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Natural vegetation fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Chetopa sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 63,135 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 22,787 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 14,000 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,580 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,560 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,984 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,376 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 1,300 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 44.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,010 | 47.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 48.6 mi |
Top 5 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 Chetopa. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Chetopa.
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.