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2025 County Report

Fires in Barry County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving Barry County responded to 837 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

20,104 residents FIPS 29009 40 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
837
2,960 across 5 years
Building fires
70
97 wildland
Property loss
$1.0M
$824K structure · $204K contents
Casualties
0 / 6
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 5 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 72% of all calls.

837
Total Incidents
Authorized controlled burning 440 52.6%
Building fires 70 8.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 41 4.9%
Power line down 27 3.2%
Grass fire 25 3.0%
All other categories 234 28.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Barry County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 80
Feb 66
Mar 142
Apr 95
May 68
Jun 53
Jul 58
Aug 112
Sep 59
Oct 75
Nov 28
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Barry County

2,960 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 367
2022 535
2023 509
2024 712
2025 837
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 70 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
49%
78
Cause undetermined
27%
42
Intentional / arson
11%
17
Equipment / heat source failure
3%
5
Under investigation
6%
10
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
6
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $699K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Barry County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 85% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 Seligman Building fires Major
2 $75,000 BARRY COUNTY Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
3 $70,000 SHELL KNOB Passenger vehicle fire Significant
4 $50,000 CASSVILLE Building fires Significant
5 $44,000 CASSVILLE Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $40,000 Eagle Rock Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
7 $40,000 CASSVILLE Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $30,000 Eagle Rock Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle Significant
9 $30,000 Cassville Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
10 $20,000 LAWRENCE Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Barry County compares

Barry County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

41.63
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Barry County
41.63
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
3.48
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Barry County
3.48
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Barry County
0
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Barry County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29009.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Barry County

9 departments report from this county.

Eagle RockGoldenMano Fire Prot Dist
Eagle Rock
FDID 00501 269 incidents
Cassville Fire Prot Dist
—
FDID 00503 266 incidents
Monett Rural Fire Dist
Monett
FDID 00505 109 incidents
Monett Fire Dept
Monett
FDID 00502 83 incidents 16 paid 7 vol
Purdy Fire Prot Dist
Purdy
FDID 00510 52 incidents 18 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in MO

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Minninghaw 2011 USFS 4,762
2 Mud Pond 2011 USFS 3,520
3 Willie 2020 USFS 2,472
4 23 Thorny Creek BIL RX 2023 NPS 2,223
5 Carty 2015 USFS 2,145
6 Swan Creek 2019 USFS 2,119
7 Rozell 2018 USFS 2,102
8 Devreaux 2023 USFS 2,028
9 Liberty 2012 USFS 1,623
10 Sugar 2024 USFS 1,611

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.