In 2025, fire departments serving Macon responded to 51 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
408 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $484K cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 99 | — | |
| 2022 | 92 | -7.1% | |
| 2023 | 84 | -8.7% | |
| 2024 | 82 | -2.4% | |
| 2025 | 51 | -37.8% |
For the 9 building fires Macon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 150 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 | Outside area, other | 29 | 19.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 19 | 12.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 16 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 12 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Other | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 36 | 24.0% |
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 Macon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 71 | 47.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 7.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 6.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 7 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 6 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 5 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 5 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 21 | 14.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Macon departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $4,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $400 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $225 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Macon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,056 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,071 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 380 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 263 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 240 | 9.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 211 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 196 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 180 | 47.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 38.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 125 | 30.5 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 | 63552 | 408 |
Six Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Macon. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Macon.
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.