In 2025, fire departments serving Leawood responded to 195 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $350K 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 72% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,081 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $4.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 176 | — | |
| 2022 | 198 | +12.5% | |
| 2023 | 289 | +46.0% | |
| 2024 | 223 | -22.8% | |
| 2025 | 195 | -12.6% |
For the 17 building fires Leawood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 201 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 34 | 16.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 27 | 13.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 25 | 12.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 21 | 10.4% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 11 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Other | 6 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 6 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 47 | 23.4% |
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 Leawood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 77 | 38.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 27 | 13.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 18 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 14 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 8 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 4 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 27 | 13.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Leawood departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $16,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Leawood sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,396 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 900 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 21.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 750 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 667 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 600 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 480 | 48.1 mi |
Top 8 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 Leawood. 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.