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2025 County Report

Fires in Boone County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving Boone County responded to 1,223 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $600K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

139,335 residents FIPS 29019 31 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
1,223
4,166 across 5 years
Building fires
85
228 wildland
Property loss
$7.5M
$5.6M structure · $1.9M contents
Casualties
0 / 6
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 6 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 38% of all calls.

1,223
Total Incidents
Power line down 153 12.5%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 89 7.3%
Building fires 85 7.0%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 74 6.1%
Passenger vehicle fire 63 5.2%
All other categories 759 62.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Boone County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 90
Feb 82
Mar 243
Apr 134
May 110
Jun 88
Jul 104
Aug 98
Sep 98
Oct 77
Nov 71
Dec 28
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Boone County

4,166 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 564
2022 579
2023 444
2024 1,356
2025 1,223
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 85 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
42%
129
Cause undetermined
28%
86
Intentional / arson
9%
29
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
44
Under investigation
5%
14
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
5
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.5M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Boone County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 61% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $600,000 Columbia Building fires Major
2 $500,000 COLUMBIA Building fires Major
3 $450,000 Columbia Building fires Major
4 $400,000 Columbia Building fires Major
5 $365,000 Ashland Gasoline or other flammable liquid spill Major
6 $300,000 Columbia Building fires Major
7 $265,000 Rocheport Building fires Major
8 $200,000 COLUMBIA Building fires Significant
9 $200,000 COLUMBIA Building fires Significant
10 $172,000 COLUMBIA Building fires Significant
06 How Boone County compares

Boone County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

8.78
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Boone County
8.78
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
0.61
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Boone County
0.61
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Boone County
0
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Boone County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29019.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Boone County

4 departments report from this county.

Columbia Fire Dept
Columbia
FDID 01005 802 incidents 123 paid
Centralia Vol Fire Dept
Centralia
FDID 01003 4 incidents
Columbia Reg Airport Public Safety Dept
Columbia
FDID 01006 0 incidents 10 paid
Lebanon Rural Fire Prot Dist
Lebanon
FDID 05302 0 incidents 1 paid
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.