In 2025, fire departments serving Rockaway Beach responded to 41 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K 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 71% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
89 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $164K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 14 | — | |
| 2022 | 14 | +0.0% | |
| 2023* | 10 | — | |
| 2024* | 10 | — | |
| 2025 | 41 | — |
* Well below Rockaway Beach'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 9 building fires Rockaway Beach 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 | 7 | 21.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 8 | Other | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 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 Rockaway Beach mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Conducted heat from another fire | 2 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 1 | 3.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rockaway Beach departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $3,500 | Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rockaway Beach sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 24,567 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,471 | 20.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,121 | 16.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,101 | 19.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,625 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,212 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,178 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,034 | 17.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,016 | 10.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 990 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 889 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 775 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 45.5 mi |
Top 2 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 Rockaway Beach. 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.