In 2025, fire departments serving West Alton responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
54 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $89K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 14 | — | |
| 2022 | 14 | +0.0% | |
| 2023* | 2 | — | |
| 2024 | 8 | — | |
| 2025 | 16 | +100.0% |
* Well below West Alton'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 6 building fires West Alton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 7 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 | 3 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Other | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 14.3% |
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 West Alton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 71.4% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 14.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. West Alton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,078 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 | 17.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 225 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 150 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 96 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 12.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 47.7 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 63386 | 54 |
Six Missouri cities with population within ±25% of West Alton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in West Alton.
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.