In 2025, fire departments serving Nowata responded to 54 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Nowata's departments reported 54 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 116 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
581 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 91 | — | |
| 2022 | 198 | +117.6% | |
| 2023 | 109 | -44.9% | |
| 2024 | 129 | +18.3% | |
| 2025* | 54 | — |
* Well below Nowata'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 10 building fires Nowata departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 131 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 | 91 | 69.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Other | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 14 | 10.7% |
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 Nowata mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 111 | 84.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 7 | Candle | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 0.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Nowata departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Nowata sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 242,310 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 22,787 | 12.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 20,307 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 17,683 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 14,910 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 14,000 | 17.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 12,468 | 22.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,000 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 11,258 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 10,816 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 10,216 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 9,636 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 9,077 | 45.2 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Oklahoma cities with population within ±25% of Nowata. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Nowata.
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.