In 2025, fire departments serving Rossville responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
139 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $169K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 29 | — | |
| 2022 | 24 | -17.2% | |
| 2023 | 33 | +37.5% | |
| 2024 | 35 | +6.1% | |
| 2025 | 18 | -48.6% |
For the 1 building fires Rossville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 51 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 | 21 | 41.2% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 21.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 5 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 7 | Office | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 7.8% |
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 Rossville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 36 | 70.6% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 9.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Fireworks | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 2.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rossville departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rossville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 102,407 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,000 | 4.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,000 | 17.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,000 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,500 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,289 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,278 | 47.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,000 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,000 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,800 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,500 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,500 | 49.6 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 Kansas cities with population within ±25% of Rossville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Rossville.
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.