In 2025, fire departments serving Kansas City responded to 1,050 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 61% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
7,716 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $28.7M cumulative property loss. 6 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,454 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,647 | +13.3% | |
| 2023 | 2,016 | +22.4% | |
| 2024 | 1,549 | -23.2% | |
| 2025 | 1,050 | -32.2% |
For the 76 building fires Kansas City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 3,447 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 | 1,242 | 36.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 407 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 307 | 8.9% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 240 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 153 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Other | 149 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 120 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 115 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 75 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 64 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 575 | 16.7% |
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 Kansas City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 2,483 | 72.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 145 | 4.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 131 | 3.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 109 | 3.2% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 104 | 3.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 90 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 62 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 43 | 1.2% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 42 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 37 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 201 | 5.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Kansas City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 77% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $556,300 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $400,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $120,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kansas City sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
38 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 12 | |
| 40-49 | 11 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 4 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,389 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 900 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 9.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 20.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 667 | 30.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 459 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 429 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 412 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 22.5 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 Kansas cities with population within ±25% of Kansas City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.