In 2025, fire departments serving Cole County responded to 502 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $350K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.
Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips.
1,399 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 119 | |
| 2022 | 107 | |
| 2023 | 147 | |
| 2024 | 524 | |
| 2025 | 502 |
For the 55 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Cole County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 83% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $350,000 | LOHMAN | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $250,000 | JEFFERSON CITY | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $200,000 | JEFFERSON CITY | Building fires | Significant |
| 4 | $100,000 | JEFFERSON CITY | Building fires | Significant |
| 5 | $60,000 | JEFFERSON CITY | Building fires | Significant |
| 6 | $50,000 | JEFFERSON CITY | Building fires | Significant |
| 7 | $40,000 | JEFFERSON CITY | Building fires | Significant |
| 8 | $40,000 | JEFFERSON CITY | Building fires | Significant |
| 9 | $40,000 | JEFFERSON CITY | Building fires | Significant |
| 10 | $30,000 | JEFFERSON CITY | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 29051.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Jefferson City | 42,644 | View › |
| Wardsville | 1,635 | View › |
| Taos | 1,275 | View › |
| St. Martins | 1,214 | View › |
| Russellville | 876 | View › |
| Centertown | 331 | View › |
| Lohman | 251 | View › |
| St. Thomas | 249 | View › |
| Eugene | 143 | View › |
| Scrivner | 0 | View › |
| Scruggs | 0 | View › |
| Osage Bend | 0 | View › |
1 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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.