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2025 County Report

Fires in Ellsworth County, KS

In 2025, fire departments serving Ellsworth County responded to 48 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $283K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

5,043 residents FIPS 20053 11 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
48
305 across 5 years
Building fires
1
14 wildland
Property loss
$287K
$287K structure · $1 contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Aircraft standby lead by count. Top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.

48
Total Incidents
Aircraft standby 12 25.0%
Grass fire 11 22.9%
Passenger vehicle fire 3 6.2%
Outside storage fire 3 6.2%
Carbon monoxide incident 3 6.2%
All other categories 16 33.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Ellsworth County?

Jul peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 5
Feb 2
Mar 6
Apr 5
May 5
Jun 3
Jul 10
Aug 7
Sep 2
Oct 3
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Ellsworth County

305 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 62
2022 81
2023 67
2024 47
2025 48
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 1 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
5
Cause undetermined
40%
4
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

3 fires · $287K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Ellsworth County during 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $282,600 Saline County Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
2 $4,000 Saline County Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $1 Saline County Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Ellsworth County compares

Ellsworth County vs KS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.52
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Ellsworth County
9.52
KS avg
9.66
US avg
7.15
0.2
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Ellsworth County
0.2
KS avg
0.99
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Ellsworth County
0
KS avg
8.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Ellsworth County

11 cities mapped to FIPS 20053.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Ellsworth County

5 departments report from this county.

ELLSWORTH FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID EW301 41 incidents 30 vol
Holyrood Fire Dept
Holyrood
FDID EW302 3 incidents 15 vol
Kanopolis Fire Dept
Kanopolis
FDID EW303 0 incidents 24 vol
Lorraine Fire Dept
Lorraine
FDID EW304 0 incidents
Wilson Fire Department
Wilson
FDID EW305 0 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.