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2025 County Report

Fires in Douglas County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving Douglas County responded to 148 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

2,933 residents FIPS 29067 34 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
148
502 across 5 years
Building fires
26
103 wildland
Property loss
$2.8M
$1.8M structure · $979K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 88% of all calls.

148
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 54 36.5%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 34 23.0%
Building fires 26 17.6%
Natural vegetation fire, other 11 7.4%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 5 3.4%
All other categories 18 12.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Douglas County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 12
Feb 13
Mar 77
Apr 12
May 6
Jun 6
Jul 2
Aug 12
Sep 8
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Douglas County

502 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 81
2022 94
2023 61
2024 118
2025 148
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 26 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
23%
15
Cause undetermined
52%
34
Intentional / arson
14%
9
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
5
Under investigation
5%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
-2%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.7M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Douglas County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 94% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 drury Forest, woods or wildland fire Major
2 $200,000 Drury Building fires Significant
3 $200,000 Ava Building fires Significant
4 $200,000 Ava Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Ava Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 Ava Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
7 $100,000 Ava Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
8 $100,000 Ava Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
9 $100,000 Ava Forest, woods or wildland fire Significant
10 $90,000 Vanzant Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
06 How Douglas County compares

Douglas County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

50.46
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Douglas County
50.46
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
8.86
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Douglas County
8.86
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Douglas County
0
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Douglas County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29067.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Douglas County

5 departments report from this county.

Squires Vol Fire Dept
Squires
FDID 03406 58 incidents
Eastern Douglas Co Vol Fire Dept Inc
Drury
FDID 03401 39 incidents 24 vol
Ava Fire Dept
Ava
FDID 03403 0 incidents 2 paid 8 vol
Goodhope Fire Dept Inc
Ava
FDID 03407 0 incidents 24 vol
Twin Bridges Vol Fire Dept Inc
Willow Springs
FDID 03408 0 incidents 15 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.