In 2025, fire departments serving Pretty Prairie responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 78% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
153 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $699K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 32 | — | |
| 2022 | 44 | +37.5% | |
| 2023 | 27 | -38.6% | |
| 2024 | 27 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 23 | -14.8% |
For the 4 building fires Pretty Prairie departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 33 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 | 9 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 21.2% | |
| 3 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 12.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 3.0% |
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 Pretty Prairie mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 23 | 69.7% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 6 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Lightning | 1 | 3.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pretty Prairie departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $7,200 | Cultivated grain or crop fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $500 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pretty Prairie sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 103,040 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,000 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,000 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,800 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,000 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,400 | 7.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,000 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,000 | 31.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,960 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,945 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,664 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 3,000 | 49.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 2,620 | 35.7 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 | 67570 | 153 |
Six Kansas cities with population within ±25% of Pretty Prairie. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Pretty Prairie.
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.