In 2025, fire departments serving Newton responded to 189 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 49% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,115 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $4.0M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 187 | — | |
| 2022 | 230 | +23.0% | |
| 2023 | 254 | +10.4% | |
| 2024 | 255 | +0.4% | |
| 2025 | 189 | -25.9% |
For the 19 building fires Newton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 333 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 | 50 | 15.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 46 | 13.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 35 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 23 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Other | 17 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 17 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 16 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 13 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 11 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 10 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 95 | 28.5% |
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 Newton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 92 | 27.6% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 30 | 9.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 29 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 29 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 26 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 20 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 19 | 5.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 11 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 11 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 10 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 56 | 16.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Newton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 75% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $35,082 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $35,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Newton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 160,380 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30,000 | 41.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,000 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,000 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,700 | 26.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,000 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,800 | 18.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,000 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,400 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,000 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,500 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,945 | 18.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 29.4 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 Newton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Newton.
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.