In 2025, fire departments serving Hays responded to 778 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $125K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 91% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,940 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.4M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,237 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,131 | -8.6% | |
| 2023 | 707 | -37.5% | |
| 2024 | 1,087 | +53.7% | |
| 2025 | 778 | -28.4% |
For the 23 building fires Hays departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 318 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 | Outside area, other | 47 | 14.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 45 | 14.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 43 | 13.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 33 | 10.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 29 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 14 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 13 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 12 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Other | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 67 | 21.1% |
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 Hays mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 108 | 34.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 29 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Fireworks | 26 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 22 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 20 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 18 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 15 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 13 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 12 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 9 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 46 | 14.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hays departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $125,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hays sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 81,801 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 28,000 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,000 | 41.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,600 | 16.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 7,500 | 6.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,500 | 16.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,500 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,200 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,000 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,920 | 41.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,600 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,600 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,513 | 13.7 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 Kansas cities with population within ±25% of Hays. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hays.
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.