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2025 County Report

Fires in Brown County, KS

In 2025, fire departments serving Brown County responded to 91 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $75K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

6,593 residents FIPS 20013 20 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
91
665 across 5 years
Building fires
20
22 wildland
Property loss
$526K
$427K structure · $99K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.

91
Total Incidents
Building fires 20 22.0%
Grass fire 10 11.0%
Natural vegetation fire, other 8 8.8%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 8 8.8%
Prescribed fire 7 7.7%
All other categories 38 41.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Brown County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 5
Feb 8
Mar 19
Apr 7
May 12
Jun 5
Jul 10
Aug 4
Sep 6
Oct 2
Nov 11
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Brown County

665 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 109
2022 163
2023 145
2024 157
2025 91
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 20 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
51%
19
Cause undetermined
8%
3
Intentional / arson
5%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
24%
9
Under investigation
8%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $343K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Brown County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 80% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $75,000 Morrill Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
2 $62,500 Morrill Natural vegetation fire, other Significant
3 $50,000 Horton Passenger vehicle fire Significant
4 $30,000 Horton Building fires Significant
5 $25,000 Horton Building fires Significant
6 $25,000 Horton Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $25,000 Horton Building fires Significant
8 $20,000 Horton Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other Significant
9 $20,000 Robinson Building fires Significant
10 $10,000 Horton Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
06 How Brown County compares

Brown County vs KS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.8
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Brown County
13.8
KS avg
9.66
US avg
7.15
3.03
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Brown County
3.03
KS avg
0.99
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Brown County
0
KS avg
8.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Brown County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 20013.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Brown County

8 departments report from this county.

Horton Fire Department
—
FDID BR202 50 incidents 22 vol
Morrill Fire Department
Morrill
FDID BR305 11 incidents 17 vol
ROBINSON FIRE DEPARTMENT
Robinson
FDID BR308 10 incidents 13 vol
Powhattan Fire Department
Powhattan
FDID BR306 5 incidents 15 vol
Kickapoo Fire Department
Horton
FDID BR410 1 incidents 1 paid 4 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in KS

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 ANNUAL BUR 1998 NPS 60,039
2 Tunner 2011 USFS 19,656
3 Boiling Springs 2021 PRI 4,571
4 BIG SALT MARSH 2010 FWS 3,697
5 Steeler 2006 USFS 2,380
6 Greenwood 2010 USFS 2,078
7 15 Two Section East Traps 2015 NPS 2,060
8 21 Big South 2021 NPS 1,954
9 Cottonwood 2018 FWS 1,508
10 East Kennedy Creek 2019 PRI 1,115

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.