In 2025, fire departments serving Fulton responded to 215 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 60% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,051 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $3.0M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 194 | — | |
| 2022 | 240 | +23.7% | |
| 2023 | 215 | -10.4% | |
| 2024 | 187 | -13.0% | |
| 2025 | 215 | +15.0% |
For the 29 building fires Fulton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 246 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 36 | 14.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 36 | 14.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 32 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 31 | 12.6% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 23 | 9.3% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 11 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 48 | 19.5% |
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 Fulton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 115 | 46.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 37 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 13 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Match | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 23 | 9.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fulton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 85% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fulton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,680 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Natural | 759 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 726 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 685 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 454 | 44.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 405 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 265 | 37.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 255 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 235 | 9.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 185 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 150 | 38.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 13.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 46.5 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 Fulton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fulton.
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.