In 2025, fire departments serving Sabetha responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Trash or rubbish fire, contained lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
109 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $100K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 16 | — | |
| 2023 | 17 | +6.2% | |
| 2024 | 38 | +123.5% | |
| 2025 | 27 | -28.9% |
* Well below Sabetha'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 1 building fires Sabetha 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Construction/renovation area | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 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 Sabetha mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sabetha departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sabetha sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 32,143 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 | 8,000 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,000 | 48.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,288 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,800 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1,700 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,020 | 11.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 940 | 13.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 667 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 600 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 600 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 44.5 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 Kansas cities with population within ±25% of Sabetha. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sabetha.
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.