In 2025, fire departments serving Poteau responded to 43 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $600K 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 77% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
267 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.5M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 38 | — | |
| 2022 | 85 | +123.7% | |
| 2023 | 52 | -38.8% | |
| 2024 | 49 | -5.8% | |
| 2025 | 43 | -12.2% |
For the 12 building fires Poteau departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 220 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 | 86 | 39.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 37 | 16.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 4.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Other | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 39 | 17.7% |
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 Poteau mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 152 | 69.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 16 | 7.3% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 12 | 5.5% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 10 | 4.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Poteau departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 89% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $60,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Poteau sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 81,538 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 10,436 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,540 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,240 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,370 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,080 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,000 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,960 | 46.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,920 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,240 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,220 | 38.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,770 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,700 | 49.8 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 | 74953 | 267 |
Six Oklahoma cities with population within ±25% of Poteau. 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.