In 2025, fire departments serving Warrensburg responded to 249 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $377K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,066 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4.9M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 449 | — | |
| 2022 | 537 | +19.6% | |
| 2023 | 491 | -8.6% | |
| 2024 | 340 | -30.8% | |
| 2025 | 249 | -26.8% |
For the 14 building fires Warrensburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 377 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 | 61 | 16.2% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 45 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 43 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 40 | 10.6% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 34 | 9.0% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 17 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 11 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 11 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 10 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 96 | 25.5% |
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 Warrensburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 200 | 53.1% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 35 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 20 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 13 | 3.4% | |
| 5 | Radiated heat from another fire | 13 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 11 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 11 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 9 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 46 | 12.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Warrensburg departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $376,843 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $190,807 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $123,101 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $28,728 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $28,728 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,318 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $4,900 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $3,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Warrensburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
23 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,253 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,082 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,803 | 45.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,654 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,129 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 649 | 33.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 537 | 45.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 498 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 485 | 29.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 460 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 432 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 403 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 23.9 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 Warrensburg. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Warrensburg.
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.