In 2025, fire departments serving Maize responded to 69 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K 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 58% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
215 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $387K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022 | 48 | — | |
| 2023 | 45 | -6.2% | |
| 2024 | 51 | +13.3% | |
| 2025 | 69 | +35.3% |
* Well below Maize'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 0 building fires Maize departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 48 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 | 9 | 18.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 4 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Other | 3 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 10.4% |
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 Maize mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 23 | 47.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 8 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 4.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Maize departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $4,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $3,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Maize sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 110,301 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,000 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,000 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,700 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,800 | 23.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,000 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,400 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,000 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,500 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,945 | 24.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 3,800 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,500 | 35.0 mi |
Top 3 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 Maize. 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.