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2025 County Report

Fires in Dent County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving Dent County responded to 127 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

5,017 residents FIPS 29065 28 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
127
631 across 5 years
Building fires
18
67 wildland
Property loss
$8.5M
$4.4M structure · $4.2M contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 72% of all calls.

127
Total Incidents
Forest, woods or wildland fire 28 22.0%
Grass fire 20 15.7%
Building fires 18 14.2%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 18 14.2%
Passenger vehicle fire 7 5.5%
All other categories 36 28.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Dent County?

Mar peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 9
Feb 10
Mar 51
Apr 13
May 10
Jun 5
Jul 3
Aug 4
Sep 2
Oct 9
Nov 9
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Dent County

631 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 166
2022 131
2023 59
2024 148
2025 127
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 18 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
38%
15
Cause undetermined
18%
7
Intentional / arson
10%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
18%
7
Under investigation
8%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
8%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $4.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Dent County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,000,000 Jadwin Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Major
2 $1,000,000 Salem Building fires Major
3 $1,000,000 Salem Building fires Major
4 $1,000,000 Salem Building fires Major
5 $270,000 Lenox Building fires Major
6 $24,000 Salem Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $20,000 Lenox Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
8 $20,000 Salem Building fires Significant
9 $15,000 Salem Building fires Significant
10 $13,000 Salem Grass fire Significant
06 How Dent County compares

Dent County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

25.31
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Dent County
25.31
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
3.59
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Dent County
3.59
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Dent County
0
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Dent County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29065.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Dent County

2 departments report from this county.

Lenox Rural Fire Dept Inc
Lenox
FDID 03304 37 incidents 16 vol
Montauk Rural Fire Dept
Salem
FDID 03302 0 incidents
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.