In 2025, fire departments serving University City responded to 292 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
May peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,482 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $4.1M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 365 | — | |
| 2022 | 309 | -15.3% | |
| 2023 | 240 | -22.3% | |
| 2024 | 276 | +15.0% | |
| 2025 | 292 | +5.8% |
For the 39 building fires University City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 315 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 64 | 20.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 55 | 17.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 27 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 27 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Other | 19 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 15 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 9 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 9 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 72 | 22.9% |
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 University City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 113 | 35.9% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 31 | 9.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 29 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 28 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 24 | 7.6% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 23 | 7.3% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 22 | 7.0% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 28 | 8.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by University City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 83% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. University City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,660 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 | 24.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 360 | 41.0 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 270 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 225 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 150 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 34.8 mi |
Top 7 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 University City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in University City.
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.