In 2025, fire departments serving Highlandville responded to 39 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Natural vegetation fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 74% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
129 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $30K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 9 | — | |
| 2022* | 5 | — | |
| 2023 | 38 | — | |
| 2024 | 38 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 39 | +2.6% |
* Well below Highlandville'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 1 building fires Highlandville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 63 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 | 62 | 98.4% | |
| 2 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 1.6% |
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 Highlandville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 62 | 98.4% | |
| 2 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Highlandville departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $4,900 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Highlandville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 24,866 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,471 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,121 | 18.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,101 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,732 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,625 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,212 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,178 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,034 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,016 | 15.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,005 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 889 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 772 | 40.3 mi |
Top 2 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 Highlandville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.