In 2025, fire departments serving Plattsburg responded to 54 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $125K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 82% of all calls.
May peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
154 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $270K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023* | 5 | — | |
| 2024 | 91 | — | |
| 2025 | 54 | -40.7% |
* Well below Plattsburg'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 6 building fires Plattsburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 12 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 | 5 | 41.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Function area, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 8.3% |
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 Plattsburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 66.7% | |
| 2 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Match | 1 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Plattsburg departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% 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 | $25,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Plattsburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,233 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 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 900 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 667 | 30.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 28.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 25.6 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Plattsburg. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Plattsburg.
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.