In 2025, fire departments serving Festus responded to 388 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $102K 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 48% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,641 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 318 | — | |
| 2022 | 362 | +13.8% | |
| 2023 | 341 | -5.8% | |
| 2024 | 232 | -32.0% | |
| 2025 | 388 | +67.2% |
For the 44 building fires Festus departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 369 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 | 101 | 27.4% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 50 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 44 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 32 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 16 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 16 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 11 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 10 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 6 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 70 | 19.0% |
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 Festus mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 238 | 64.5% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 37 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 3.3% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 9 | 2.4% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 8 | 2.2% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 1.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 1.6% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 6 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 36 | 9.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Festus departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $102,396 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $13,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Festus sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
22 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 11 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,017 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,026 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 644 | 47.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 522 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 387 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 365 | 35.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 360 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 325 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 35.3 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 270 | 15.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 264 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 256 | 35.0 mi |
Top 9 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 Festus. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Festus.
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.