In 2025, fire departments serving Platte City responded to 50 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Natural vegetation fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
211 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $434K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022 | 78 | — | |
| 2023 | 36 | -53.8% | |
| 2024 | 47 | +30.6% | |
| 2025 | 50 | +6.4% |
* Well below Platte City'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 7 building fires Platte City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 104 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 | 62 | 59.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 9 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Other | 5 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 5 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 3.8% |
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 Platte City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 72 | 69.2% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 6.7% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 6 | 5.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Match | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 4.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Platte City departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,500 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $300 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Platte City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,659 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 902 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 900 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 667 | 17.3 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 21.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 459 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 19.0 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 64079 | 211 |
Six Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Platte City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Platte City.
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.