In 2025, fire departments serving Olathe responded to 681 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $345K 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 62% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,595 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $43.2M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 641 | — | |
| 2022 | 670 | +4.5% | |
| 2023 | 731 | +9.1% | |
| 2024 | 872 | +19.3% | |
| 2025 | 681 | -21.9% |
For the 46 building fires Olathe departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 845 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 112 | 13.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 109 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 105 | 12.4% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 78 | 9.2% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 75 | 8.9% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 58 | 6.9% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 26 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 25 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 22 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 20 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 215 | 25.4% |
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 Olathe mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 377 | 44.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 89 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 64 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 52 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 37 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 27 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 26 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 21 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 20 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 18 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 114 | 13.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Olathe departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 68% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $344,800 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Olathe sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
27 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 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 14,833 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 900 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 16.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 750 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 667 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 600 | 45.5 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 Kansas cities with population within ±25% of Olathe. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Olathe.
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.