In 2025, fire departments serving Neodesha responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $27K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
121 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $300K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023 | 52 | — | |
| 2024 | 43 | -17.3% | |
| 2025 | 25 | -41.9% |
* Well below Neodesha'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 4 building fires Neodesha departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 54 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 25.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 16 | 29.6% |
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 Neodesha mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 17 | 31.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 8 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 14.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Neodesha departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $27,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Neodesha sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 202,370 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25,650 | 48.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 23,000 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 22,787 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 14,000 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 12,468 | 44.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,000 | 31.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,000 | 18.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,000 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 9,077 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 8,000 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,500 | 49.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,120 | 34.7 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 Neodesha. 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.