In 2025, fire departments serving Junction City responded to 225 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,267 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $4.6M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 272 | — | |
| 2022 | 256 | -5.9% | |
| 2023 | 264 | +3.1% | |
| 2024 | 250 | -5.3% | |
| 2025 | 225 | -10.0% |
For the 19 building fires Junction City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 344 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 69 | 20.1% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 41 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 25 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 23 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 21 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Other | 13 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 13 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 12 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 11 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 10 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 106 | 30.8% |
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 Junction City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 132 | 38.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 33 | 9.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 29 | 8.4% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 22 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 22 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 14 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 14 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 11 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 9 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 47 | 13.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Junction City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 65% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $60,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Self-propelled motor home or recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Junction City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
12 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 115,154 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 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,000 | 9.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,000 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,000 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,500 | 8.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,289 | 11.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,278 | 11.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,000 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 5,000 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,000 | 6.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,800 | 14.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 34.3 mi |
Top 3 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 Junction City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Junction City.
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.