In 2025, fire departments serving Overland Park responded to 1,121 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $693K 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 59% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
5,210 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $31.4M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 942 | — | |
| 2022 | 961 | +2.0% | |
| 2023 | 1,094 | +13.8% | |
| 2024 | 1,092 | -0.2% | |
| 2025 | 1,121 | +2.7% |
For the 138 building fires Overland Park departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,095 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 188 | 17.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 146 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 137 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 96 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 66 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 55 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 51 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 36 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 33 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 24 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 263 | 24.0% |
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 Overland Park mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 519 | 47.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 109 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 87 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 72 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 65 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 41 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 33 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 18 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 17 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 15 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 119 | 10.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Overland Park departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 50% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $693,384 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $652,408 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $494,802 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $304,781 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $280,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $270,876 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $247,931 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $185,853 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Overland Park sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
48 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,633 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 | 1,000 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 900 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 750 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 667 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 600 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 480 | 45.8 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 Overland Park. 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.