In 2025, fire departments serving Smithton responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
34 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022* | 2 | — | |
| 2023 | 5 | — | |
| 2024 | 13 | +160.0% | |
| 2025 | 13 | +0.0% |
* Well below Smithton'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 2 building fires Smithton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 14 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 | 3 | 21.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Structural area, other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 7.1% |
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 Smithton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 57.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 21.4% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 7.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Smithton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 20,871 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 | 44.7 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 2,245 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,803 | 41.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,654 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,129 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 759 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 745 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 726 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 649 | 47.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 640 | 41.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 638 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 609 | 30.3 mi |
Top 3 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 Smithton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Smithton.
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.