In 2025, fire departments serving Hoisington responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
110 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.1M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 7 | — | |
| 2022 | 34 | — | |
| 2023 | 42 | +23.5% | |
| 2024* | 13 | — | |
| 2025 | 14 | — |
* Well below Hoisington'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 3 building fires Hoisington departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 65 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 21 | 32.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 13.8% | |
| 4 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 4.6% | |
| 5 | Wall assembly | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Corridor, mall | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 12.3% |
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 Hoisington mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 19 | 29.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 13 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Fireworks | 5 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Molten, hot material | 4 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hoisington departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hoisington sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 128,438 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 | 27.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,000 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,000 | 48.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,600 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 7,500 | 36.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,000 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,350 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,000 | 33.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,960 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,500 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,664 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,200 | 27.8 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 Kansas cities with population within ±25% of Hoisington. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hoisington.
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.