In 2025, fire departments serving De Soto responded to 270 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $168K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,431 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.4M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 282 | — | |
| 2022 | 285 | +1.1% | |
| 2023 | 291 | +2.1% | |
| 2024 | 303 | +4.1% | |
| 2025 | 270 | -10.9% |
For the 63 building fires De Soto departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 424 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 | 162 | 38.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 45 | 10.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 43 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 34 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 25 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 16 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Other | 13 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 10 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 61 | 14.4% |
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 De Soto mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 295 | 69.6% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 28 | 6.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 17 | 4.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 9 | 2.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 1.9% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 1.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 1.7% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 7 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 5 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 34 | 8.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by De Soto departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $168,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $95,462 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $33,405 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. De Soto sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,223 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 | 2,146 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,026 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 644 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 616 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 542 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 522 | 46.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 522 | 26.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 517 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 495 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 493 | 43.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 459 | 41.5 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 Missouri cities with population within ±25% of De Soto. 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.