In 2025, fire departments serving Steelville responded to 58 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1 building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
347 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2 cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 23 | — | |
| 2022 | 86 | — | |
| 2023 | 101 | +17.4% | |
| 2024 | 79 | -21.8% | |
| 2025 | 58 | -26.6% |
* Well below Steelville'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 9 building fires Steelville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 206 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 | 130 | 63.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 19 | 9.2% | |
| 3 | Other | 13 | 6.3% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 11 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 1.5% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 1.0% | |
| 8 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 2 | 1.0% | |
| 9 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 0.5% | |
| 10 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 0.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 14 | 6.8% |
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 Steelville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 172 | 83.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 7 | 3.4% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 2 | 1.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 1.0% | |
| 8 | Match | 2 | 1.0% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 1.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 0.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 1.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Steelville departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Steelville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 23,881 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,761 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,146 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,249 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,212 | 41.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 1,049 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,026 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 971 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 876 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 755 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 20.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 740 | 8.9 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 Steelville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Steelville.
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.