In 2025, fire departments serving Idabel responded to 90 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
489 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $13.6M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 54 | — | |
| 2022 | 91 | — | |
| 2023 | 90 | -1.1% | |
| 2024 | 164 | +82.2% | |
| 2025 | 90 | -45.1% |
* Well below Idabel'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 9 building fires Idabel departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 148 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 | 64 | 43.2% | |
| 2 | Other | 15 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 8 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Assembly area - less than 100 persons | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 21 | 14.2% |
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 Idabel mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 104 | 70.3% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 20 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 0.7% | |
| 9 | Incendiary device | 1 | 0.7% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 0.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 3.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Idabel departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 72% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $80,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $80,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $75,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $70,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Idabel sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 41,230 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 9,071 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 4,000 | 14.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,300 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 32.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,850 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 1,621 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,602 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,540 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 1,342 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,340 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,251 | 40.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 33.2 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 | 74745 | 489 |
Six Oklahoma cities with population within ±25% of Idabel. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Idabel.
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.