In 2025, fire departments serving La Plata responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 76% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
26 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $211K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023* | 0 | — | |
| 2024* | 2 | — | |
| 2025 | 21 | — |
* Well below La Plata'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 La Plata departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 14 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 21.4% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 21.4% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 7.1% |
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 La Plata mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 10 | Conducted heat from another fire | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 7.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by La Plata departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. La Plata sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,418 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 454 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 380 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 263 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 240 | 15.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 228 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 211 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 196 | 17.7 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 | 63549 | 26 |
Six Missouri cities with population within ±25% of La Plata. 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.