In 2025, fire departments serving Lathrop responded to 40 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
203 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $14.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 50 | — | |
| 2023 | 41 | -18.0% | |
| 2024 | 68 | +65.9% | |
| 2025 | 40 | -41.2% |
* Well below Lathrop'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 3 building fires Lathrop departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 38 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 | 7 | 18.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 15.8% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 7.9% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 3 | 7.9% | |
| 7 | Separate operator/control area of transportation | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Multiple areas | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 10.5% |
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 Lathrop mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 14 | 36.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 18.4% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 15.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lathrop departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lathrop sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,233 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 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 900 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 667 | 38.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 26.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 33.0 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 Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Lathrop. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lathrop.
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.