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2025 County Report

Fires in Christian County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving Christian County responded to 790 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $400K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

54,038 residents FIPS 29043 29 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
790
2,804 across 5 years
Building fires
151
194 wildland
Property loss
$3.5M
$2.7M structure · $784K contents
Casualties
0 / 4
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 4 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.

790
Total Incidents
Building fires 151 19.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 72 9.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 70 8.9%
Authorized controlled burning 65 8.2%
Natural vegetation fire, other 49 6.2%
All other categories 383 48.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Christian County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 61
Feb 94
Mar 145
Apr 93
May 47
Jun 68
Jul 50
Aug 72
Sep 78
Oct 36
Nov 36
Dec 10
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Christian County

2,804 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 285
2022 531
2023 584
2024 614
2025 790
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 151 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
63%
163
Cause undetermined
9%
23
Intentional / arson
22%
56
Equipment / heat source failure
3%
7
Under investigation
1%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
7
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Christian County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 78% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $400,000 NIXA Building fires Major
2 $300,000 NIXA Building fires Major
3 $275,000 CHADWICK Building fires Major
4 $232,500 NIXA Building fires Significant
5 $200,000 NIXA Building fires Significant
6 $200,000 SPARTA Building fires Significant
7 $150,000 SPARTA Building fires Significant
8 $125,000 OZARK Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 CLEVER Building fires Significant
10 $100,000 NIXA Building fires Significant
06 How Christian County compares

Christian County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

14.62
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Christian County
14.62
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
2.79
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Christian County
2.79
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Christian County
0
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Christian County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29043.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Christian County

3 departments report from this county.

Ozark Fire Prot Dist
OZARK
FDID 02206 235 incidents 41 paid
Sparta Fire Prot Dist
Sparta
FDID 02208 99 incidents 15 vol
Billings Fire Prot Dist
billings
FDID 02207 0 incidents 40 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.