In 2025, fire departments serving Shawnee responded to 469 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 45% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,483 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $9.4M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 338 | — | |
| 2022 | 566 | +67.5% | |
| 2023 | 645 | +14.0% | |
| 2024 | 465 | -27.9% | |
| 2025 | 469 | +0.9% |
For the 37 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 1,022 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 | 491 | 48.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 114 | 11.2% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 77 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Other | 61 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 51 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 24 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 18 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 18 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 13 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 11 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 144 | 14.1% |
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 Shawnee mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 712 | 69.7% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 52 | 5.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 37 | 3.6% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 36 | 3.5% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 33 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 28 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 18 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 11 | 1.1% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 1.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 10 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 75 | 7.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Shawnee departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 54% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Grass fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Shawnee sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 191,058 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 | 26,000 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,299 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 16,423 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 14,000 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,600 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 9,429 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,954 | 16.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,000 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,580 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,400 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 6,152 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,122 | 28.5 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 Oklahoma 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.