In 2025, fire departments serving Riverton responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents . 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.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
51 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 13 | — | |
| 2022 | 17 | +30.8% | |
| 2023* | 5 | — | |
| 2024* | 5 | — | |
| 2025 | 11 | — |
* Well below Riverton'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 2 building fires Riverton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 11 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 | Outside area, other | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 2 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 10 | Undetermined | 1 | 9.1% |
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 Riverton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 54.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 9.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Riverton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 18,632 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 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,376 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 1,300 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 46.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 903 | 11.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 876 | 11.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 800 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 750 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 660 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 602 | 10.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 600 | 4.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 40.8 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 Kansas cities with population within ±25% of Riverton. 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.