In 2025, fire departments serving Kiowa responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
114 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $173K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022* | 11 | — | |
| 2023 | 38 | — | |
| 2024 | 34 | -10.5% | |
| 2025 | 15 | -55.9% |
* Well below Kiowa'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 2 building fires Kiowa departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 33 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 | 9 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 21.2% | |
| 3 | Other | 5 | 15.2% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 12.1% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Structural area, other | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 3.0% |
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 Kiowa mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 17 | 51.5% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Match | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 3.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kiowa sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 153,861 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,299 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 10,436 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,600 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 9,500 | 14.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,680 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,750 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,400 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,122 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,700 | 18.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,540 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,293 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,240 | 43.2 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 Oklahoma cities with population within ±25% of Kiowa. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Kiowa.
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.