In 2025, fire departments serving Hannibal responded to 257 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $125K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,228 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.4M cumulative property loss. 7 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 280 | — | |
| 2022 | 182 | -35.0% | |
| 2023 | 221 | +21.4% | |
| 2024 | 288 | +30.3% | |
| 2025 | 257 | -10.8% |
For the 25 building fires Hannibal departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 272 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 | 75 | 27.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 30 | 11.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 15 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Other | 14 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 11 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 11 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 70 | 25.7% |
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 Hannibal mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 149 | 54.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 22 | 8.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 29 | 10.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hannibal departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 87% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hannibal sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
14 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 3 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,734 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 1,050 | 33.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 835 | 11.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 280 | 34.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 238 | 10.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 210 | 10.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 11.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 37.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 11.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 140 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 140 | 35.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 32.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 44.7 mi |
Top 3 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 Hannibal. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hannibal.
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.