In 2025, fire departments serving Holton responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K 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 70% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
121 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $295K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 49 | +206.2% | |
| 2023 | 21 | -57.1% | |
| 2024* | 8 | — | |
| 2025 | 27 | — |
* Well below Holton'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 7 building fires Holton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 64 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 | 19 | 29.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 10 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 10 | 15.6% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Exterior, exposed surface | 4 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Other | 3 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Assembly area - less than 100 persons | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 9.4% |
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 Holton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 19 | 29.7% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 9 | 14.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Conducted heat from another fire | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Holton departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Holton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 60,099 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,000 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,000 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,000 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,200 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,000 | 22.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,288 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,800 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,800 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1,700 | 12.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,600 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 1,500 | 43.1 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 Holton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Holton.
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.