In 2025, fire departments serving Weston responded to 36 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $286K 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 56% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
83 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $351K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | — | |
| 2023* | 3 | — | |
| 2024 | 28 | — | |
| 2025 | 36 | +28.6% |
* Well below Weston'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 4 building fires Weston departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | 8 | 47.1% | |
| 2 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Exterior, exposed surface | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Weston mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 52.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Sunlight | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Weston departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $286,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Weston sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,559 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 940 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 900 | 16.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 17.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 15.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 667 | 10.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 15.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 459 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 13.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 429 | 38.5 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 | 64098 | 83 |
Six Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Weston. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Weston.
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.