In 2025, fire departments serving Osawatomie responded to 113 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $125K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
532 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 79 | — | |
| 2022 | 105 | +32.9% | |
| 2023 | 111 | +5.7% | |
| 2024 | 124 | +11.7% | |
| 2025 | 113 | -8.9% |
For the 24 building fires Osawatomie departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 283 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 | 67 | 23.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 64 | 22.6% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 46 | 16.3% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Other | 11 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Structural area, other | 4 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 41 | 14.5% |
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 Osawatomie mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 183 | 64.7% | |
| 2 | Match | 14 | 4.9% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 13 | 4.6% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 3.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 10 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 9 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 5 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 22 | 7.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Osawatomie departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Cultivated vegetation, crop fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $24,270 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $13,500 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Osawatomie sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 28,653 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,000 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,200 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 1,188 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,120 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,078 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 1,043 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 914 | 49.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 885 | 48.3 mi |
Top 6 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 Osawatomie. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Osawatomie.
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.