In 2025, fire departments serving Sedalia responded to 453 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,209 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.9M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 391 | — | |
| 2022 | 413 | +5.6% | |
| 2023 | 524 | +26.9% | |
| 2024 | 428 | -18.3% | |
| 2025 | 453 | +5.8% |
For the 50 building fires Sedalia departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 844 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 | 183 | 21.7% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 158 | 18.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 68 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 67 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 53 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 38 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 21 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Other | 20 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 20 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 19 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 197 | 23.3% |
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 Sedalia mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 501 | 59.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 63 | 7.5% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 61 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 43 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 21 | 2.5% | |
| 6 | Match | 20 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 18 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 14 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 14 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 73 | 8.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sedalia departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 82% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sedalia sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
13 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 20,199 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,082 | 39.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 2,245 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,803 | 40.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,654 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,129 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 745 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 649 | 42.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 640 | 44.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 638 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 609 | 33.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 597 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 565 | 49.7 mi |
Top 10 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 Sedalia. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sedalia.
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.