In 2025, fire departments serving Hermitage responded to 64 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $215K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 84% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
78 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $249K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022* | 9 | — | |
| 2023* | 1 | — | |
| 2024* | 0 | — | |
| 2025 | 64 | — |
* Well below Hermitage's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 0 building fires Hermitage departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 3 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 | Function area, other | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Switchgear area, transformer vault | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 33.3% |
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 Hermitage mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 33.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hermitage departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $215,000 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Outside rubbish fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Outside rubbish fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hermitage sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 32,156 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,500 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,082 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,855 | 22.8 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 2,245 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,160 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,803 | 14.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,732 | 36.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,654 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,129 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,017 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,005 | 41.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 943 | 21.2 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 65668 | 78 |
Six Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Hermitage. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hermitage.
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.