In 2025, fire departments serving Colwich responded to 35 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K 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 71% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
129 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $90K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | — | |
| 2022 | 33 | +94.1% | |
| 2023 | 29 | -12.1% | |
| 2024* | 15 | — | |
| 2025 | 35 | — |
* Well below Colwich'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 Colwich departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 41 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 | 18 | 43.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 8 | 19.5% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 14.6% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Construction/renovation area | 1 | 2.4% |
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 Colwich mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15 | 36.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 6 | 14.6% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Fireworks | 4 | 9.8% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 9.8% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Colwich departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Colwich sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 108,601 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,000 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,000 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,700 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,800 | 21.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,000 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,400 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,000 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,500 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,945 | 22.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 3,800 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,500 | 38.9 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 67030 | 129 |
Six Kansas cities with population within ±25% of Colwich. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Colwich.
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.