In 2025, fire departments serving Poplar Bluff responded to 325 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $31K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,097 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $136K cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 389 | — | |
| 2022 | 448 | +15.2% | |
| 2023 | 381 | -15.0% | |
| 2024 | 554 | +45.4% | |
| 2025 | 325 | -41.3% |
For the 44 building fires Poplar Bluff departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 802 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 | 286 | 35.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 78 | 9.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 63 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Other | 51 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 46 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 33 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 26 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 24 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 17 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 164 | 20.4% |
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 Poplar Bluff mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 563 | 70.2% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 39 | 4.9% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 31 | 3.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 29 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 25 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 18 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 15 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 13 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 11 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 10 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 48 | 6.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Poplar Bluff departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $31,210 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Poplar Bluff sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
43 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 7 | |
| 30-39 | 13 | |
| 40-49 | 9 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 20,164 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,521 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,422 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,595 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,227 | 38.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 810 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 709 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 613 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 587 | 45.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 518 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 495 | 48.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 460 | 47.7 mi |
Top 3 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 Poplar Bluff. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Poplar Bluff.
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.