In 2025, fire departments serving Liberal responded to 201 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K 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 55% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,102 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $4.7M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 308 | — | |
| 2022 | 182 | -40.9% | |
| 2023 | 201 | +10.4% | |
| 2024 | 210 | +4.5% | |
| 2025 | 201 | -4.3% |
For the 22 building fires Liberal departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 398 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 | 119 | 29.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 70 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 30 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 24 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 18 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 14 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Other | 13 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 13 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 12 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 11 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 74 | 18.6% |
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 Liberal mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 195 | 49.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 42 | 10.6% | |
| 3 | Radiated heat from another fire | 26 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Fireworks | 17 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 16 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 16 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 10 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 36 | 9.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Liberal departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 70% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $32,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $18,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Liberal sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
23 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 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 841,580 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 662,700 | 45.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 55,000 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 29,189 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 17,482 | 46.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 11,000 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,700 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,600 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,500 | 16.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,400 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,769 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,126 | 4.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,000 | 44.6 mi |
Top 4 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 Liberal. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Liberal.
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.