In 2025, fire departments serving Merriam responded to 135 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $89K 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 59% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
633 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 129 | — | |
| 2022 | 92 | -28.7% | |
| 2023 | 151 | +64.1% | |
| 2024 | 126 | -16.6% | |
| 2025 | 135 | +7.1% |
For the 10 building fires Merriam departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 144 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 33 | 22.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 33 | 22.9% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 16 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 7 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 19 | 13.2% |
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 Merriam mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 79 | 54.9% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 16 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 10 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Match | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Merriam departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $89,040 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $9,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $7,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $6,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $850 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Merriam sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 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. 10,945 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 900 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 13.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 667 | 38.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 429 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 412 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 26.1 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 Merriam. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Merriam.
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.