In 2025, fire departments serving Independence responded to 1,954 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
8,391 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $37.0M cumulative property loss. 13 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,467 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,627 | +10.9% | |
| 2023 | 1,596 | -1.9% | |
| 2024 | 1,747 | +9.5% | |
| 2025 | 1,954 | +11.8% |
For the 125 building fires Independence departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 3,023 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 | Outside area, other | 613 | 20.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 607 | 20.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 283 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 226 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 149 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Other | 148 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 115 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 104 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 82 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 65 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 631 | 20.9% |
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 Independence mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 1,942 | 64.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 226 | 7.5% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 211 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 121 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 87 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 67 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 58 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 44 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Match | 37 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 36 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 194 | 6.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Independence departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 44% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $180,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Independence sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
112 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 6 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 25 | |
| 30-39 | 26 | |
| 40-49 | 22 | |
| 50-59 | 21 | |
| 60-69 | 7 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,759 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 902 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 900 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 667 | 46.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 30.7 mi |
Top 10 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 Independence. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Independence.
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.