In 2025, fire departments serving Warsaw responded to 218 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
499 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2K cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 14 | — | |
| 2022* | 49 | — | |
| 2023* | 45 | — | |
| 2024 | 173 | — | |
| 2025 | 218 | +26.0% |
* Well below Warsaw'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 19 building fires Warsaw departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 108 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 | Outside area, other | 22 | 20.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 22 | 20.4% | |
| 3 | Other | 14 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 10 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 9.3% |
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 Warsaw mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 47 | 43.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 18 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 18 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 10 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Radiated heat from another fire | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 2.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Warsaw departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Warsaw sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 30,450 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 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,082 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,855 | 35.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 2,245 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,160 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,803 | 8.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,654 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,129 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,017 | 29.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 943 | 35.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 790 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 789 | 46.6 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 Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Warsaw. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Warsaw.
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.