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2025 County Report

Fires in Doniphan County, KS

In 2025, fire departments serving Doniphan County responded to 47 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $215K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

5,015 residents FIPS 20043 17 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
47
281 across 5 years
Building fires
8
9 wildland
Property loss
$744K
$462K structure · $283K 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 64% of all calls.

47
Total Incidents
Building fires 8 17.0%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 7 14.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 7 14.9%
Carbon monoxide incident 5 10.6%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 3 6.4%
All other categories 17 36.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Doniphan County?

Feb peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 5
Feb 12
Mar 12
Apr 6
May 3
Jun 2
Jul 1
Aug 1
Sep 3
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Doniphan County

281 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 40
2022 64
2023 54
2024 76
2025 47
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 8 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
6
Cause undetermined
17%
2
Intentional / arson
17%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
17%
2
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
05 The biggest fires

6 fires · $462K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Doniphan County during 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $215,000 Highland Building fires Significant
2 $189,000 Wathena Building fires Significant
3 $50,000 Highland Building fires Significant
4 $6,000 Troy Building fires Significant
5 $1,000 Highland Building fires Significant
6 $500 Denton Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Doniphan County compares

Doniphan County vs KS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.37
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Doniphan County
9.37
KS avg
9.66
US avg
7.15
1.6
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Doniphan County
1.6
KS avg
0.99
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Doniphan County
0
KS avg
8.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Doniphan County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 20043.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Doniphan County

6 departments report from this county.

Doniphan Co Fire Dist4
ELWOOD
FDID DP412 17 incidents 27 vol
Doniphan Co Fire Dist1
Wathena
FDID DP409 15 incidents 26 vol
Doniphan Co Fire Dist3
Bendena
FDID DP411 8 incidents 7 vol
Doniphan Co Fire Dist5
troy
FDID DP408 5 incidents 30 vol
Doniphan Co Fire Dist2
—
FDID DP410 3 incidents
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.