In 2025, fire departments serving Scott City responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Passenger vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
69 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $638K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022 | 21 | — | |
| 2023 | 14 | -33.3% | |
| 2024 | 19 | +35.7% | |
| 2025 | 14 | -26.3% |
* Well below Scott City'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 Scott City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 37 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 | 9 | 24.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 8 | 21.6% | |
| 3 | Other | 3 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Corridor, mall | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - 5+ persons; including barrack/dormitory | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 21.6% |
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 Scott City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 27.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 13.5% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 10.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 4 | 10.8% | |
| 6 | Fireworks | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Match | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 5.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Scott City departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $500 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Scott City sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 48,932 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 18,000 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,000 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,400 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,900 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,800 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,600 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 22.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1,200 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 749 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 650 | 26.8 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 | 67871 | 69 |
Six Kansas cities with population within ±25% of Scott City. 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.