In 2025, fire departments serving Sunset Hills responded to 65 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $45K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Passenger vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
298 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $701K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 31 | — | |
| 2022 | 45 | — | |
| 2023 | 83 | +84.4% | |
| 2024 | 74 | -10.8% | |
| 2025 | 65 | -12.2% |
* Well below Sunset Hills'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 3 building fires Sunset Hills departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 50 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 24 | 48.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 7 | 14.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Closet | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 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 Sunset Hills mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 18 | 36.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 18.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 5 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 4.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sunset Hills departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $45,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sunset Hills sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,243 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,475 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,026 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 365 | 48.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 360 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 44.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 270 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 265 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 264 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 256 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 225 | 25.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 49.5 mi |
Top 8 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 Sunset Hills. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.