In 2025, fire departments serving Morehouse responded to 33 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Trash or rubbish fire, contained lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 91% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
199 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.6M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 13 | — | |
| 2022 | 41 | — | |
| 2023 | 39 | -4.9% | |
| 2024 | 73 | +87.2% | |
| 2025 | 33 | -54.8% |
* Well below Morehouse'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 6 building fires Morehouse departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 66 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 | 23 | 34.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 8 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Structural area, other | 4 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Other | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 4.5% |
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 Morehouse mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 47 | 71.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 7.6% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 5 | Candle | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 1.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Morehouse departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Morehouse sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,347 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 569 | 12.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 500 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 429 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 276 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 273 | 44.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 245 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 185 | 44.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 170 | 33.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 161 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 138 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 136 | 47.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 122 | 16.8 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 Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Morehouse. 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.