In 2025, fire departments serving Stover responded to 54 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
272 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 28 | — | |
| 2022 | 64 | — | |
| 2023 | 64 | +0.0% | |
| 2024 | 62 | -3.1% | |
| 2025 | 54 | -12.9% |
* Well below Stover'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 7 building fires Stover departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 43 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 | 21 | 48.8% | |
| 2 | Wall assembly | 3 | 7.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Switchgear area, transformer vault | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 14.0% |
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 Stover mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 27 | 62.8% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Radiated heat from another fire | 2 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 2.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Stover departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Stover sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 29,912 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,500 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,082 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,855 | 39.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 2,245 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,160 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,803 | 32.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,654 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,129 | 41.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 943 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 789 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 759 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 745 | 11.7 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 Stover. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Stover.
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.