In 2025, fire departments serving Shawnee responded to 357 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 48% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,224 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $9.9M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 445 | — | |
| 2022 | 459 | +3.1% | |
| 2023 | 497 | +8.3% | |
| 2024 | 466 | -6.2% | |
| 2025 | 357 | -23.4% |
For the 26 building fires Shawnee departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 482 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 | Outside area, other | 63 | 13.1% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 55 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 53 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 53 | 11.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 50 | 10.4% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 30 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 23 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 17 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 16 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 11 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 111 | 23.0% |
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 Shawnee mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 241 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 35 | 7.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 25 | 5.2% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 23 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 23 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 20 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 18 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 16 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 12 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 11 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 58 | 12.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Shawnee departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 89% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $56,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $45,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,349 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Shawnee sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
31 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 4 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 9 | |
| 40-49 | 7 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,104 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 900 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 8.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 667 | 35.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 459 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 429 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 412 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 25.9 mi |
Top 9 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 Shawnee. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Shawnee.
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.