In 2025, fire departments serving Elwood responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Trash or rubbish fire, contained lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 87% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
98 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $343K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 13 | — | |
| 2022 | 22 | +69.2% | |
| 2023 | 20 | -9.1% | |
| 2024 | 28 | +40.0% | |
| 2025 | 15 | -46.4% |
For the 0 building fires Elwood 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 | Storage area, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 2 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 10 | Multiple areas | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 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 Elwood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 1 | 9.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Elwood sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,107 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,020 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 940 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 900 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 667 | 18.6 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 36.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 29.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 9.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 476 | 31.7 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 Kansas cities with population within ±25% of Elwood. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Elwood.
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.