In 2025, fire departments serving Clayton responded to 144 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.
May peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
631 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $714K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 115 | — | |
| 2022 | 95 | -17.4% | |
| 2023 | 133 | +40.0% | |
| 2024 | 144 | +8.3% | |
| 2025 | 144 | +0.0% |
For the 20 building fires Clayton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 59 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 | 9 | 15.3% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 10.2% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 5 | 8.5% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 4 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Other | 3 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Closet | 3 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 3 | 5.1% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 5.1% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 14 | 23.7% |
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 Clayton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 22 | 37.3% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 8.5% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 4 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 8.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Clayton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Fuel burner/boiler malfunction, fire confined | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,300 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $700 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $500 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $400 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Clayton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
28 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 10 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 10 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,769 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 | 26.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 360 | 40.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 270 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 225 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 150 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 44.3 mi | |
| 1997 | Smoking | 135 | 49.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 104 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 20.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 48.2 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 Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Clayton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Clayton.
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.