In 2025, fire departments serving Valley Falls responded to 52 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $199K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
225 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $986K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 54 | — | |
| 2022 | 56 | +3.7% | |
| 2023* | 22 | — | |
| 2024 | 41 | — | |
| 2025 | 52 | +26.8% |
* Well below Valley Falls'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 10 building fires Valley Falls departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 45 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 | 16 | 35.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 15.6% |
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 Valley Falls mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 23 | 51.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 4 | 8.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 9 | Match | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Valley Falls departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $199,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Valley Falls sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 48,557 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,000 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,000 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,200 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,000 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,800 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,800 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1,700 | 25.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,600 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 1,500 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1,250 | 30.7 mi |
Top 5 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Kansas cities with population within ±25% of Valley Falls. 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.