In 2025, fire departments serving Rich Hill responded to 157 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 80% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
308 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $965K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 19 | — | |
| 2022 | 54 | — | |
| 2023* | 32 | — | |
| 2024 | 46 | — | |
| 2025 | 157 | +241.3% |
* Well below Rich Hill'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 7 building fires Rich Hill departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 44 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 | 20 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Structural area, other | 3 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - 5+ persons; including barrack/dormitory | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 18.2% |
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 Rich Hill mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 23 | 52.3% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 3 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Conducted heat from another fire | 1 | 2.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rich Hill departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rich Hill sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 30,331 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,000 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,200 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,082 | 35.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,654 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,300 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,129 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,017 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 23.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 29.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 790 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 38.7 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 | 64779 | 308 |
Six Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Rich Hill. 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.