In 2025, fire departments serving Purdy responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K 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 73% of all calls.
Apr peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
201 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $4K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 42 | — | |
| 2022 | 53 | +26.2% | |
| 2023 | 65 | +22.6% | |
| 2024* | 15 | — | |
| 2025 | 26 | — |
* Well below Purdy'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 8 building fires Purdy departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 83 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 | 19 | 22.9% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 15 | 18.1% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 12 | 14.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 9.6% | |
| 5 | Structural area, other | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Other | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 13.3% |
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 Purdy mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 38 | 45.8% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 16.9% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 8.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Purdy departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $500 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Purdy sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 19,582 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,580 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,732 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 1,300 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,016 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 994 | 46.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 903 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 876 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 875 | 41.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 706 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 678 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 602 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 600 | 43.7 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 Purdy. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Purdy.
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.