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2025 County Report

Fires in Ford County, KS

In 2025, fire departments serving Ford County responded to 844 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

30,760 residents FIPS 20057 15 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
844
4,628 across 5 years
Building fires
30
51 wildland
Property loss
$1.3M
$882K structure · $386K 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 79% of all calls.

844
Total Incidents
Aircraft standby 529 62.7%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 49 5.8%
Grass fire 32 3.8%
Building fires 30 3.6%
Unauthorized burning 23 2.7%
All other categories 181 21.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Ford County?

Mar peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 48
Feb 82
Mar 96
Apr 75
May 82
Jun 72
Jul 83
Aug 96
Sep 14
Oct 83
Nov 26
Dec 87
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Ford County

4,628 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,264
2022 778
2023 829
2024 913
2025 844
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 30 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
41%
46
Cause undetermined
15%
17
Intentional / arson
8%
9
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
12
Under investigation
20%
22
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $790K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Ford County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 90% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 Dodge City Building fires Significant
2 $150,000 Dodge City Outside equipment fire Significant
3 $120,000 Dodge City Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
4 $75,000 Dodge City Building fires Significant
5 $60,000 Dodge City Building fires Significant
6 $60,000 Dodge City Building fires Significant
7 $50,000 Dodge City Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
8 $40,000 Dodge City Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $20,000 Dodge City Building fires Significant
10 $15,000 Dodge City Building fires Significant
06 How Ford County compares

Ford County vs KS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

27.44
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Ford County
27.44
KS avg
9.66
US avg
7.15
0.98
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Ford County
0.98
KS avg
0.99
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Ford County
0
KS avg
8.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Ford County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 20057.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Ford County

4 departments report from this county.

Dodge City Fire Department
Dodge City
FDID FO101 589 incidents 26 paid
Ford Co FireEMS
Dodge City
FDID FO403 257 incidents 24 paid
Bucklin Vol Fire Dept
Bucklin
FDID FO302 0 incidents
SPEARVILLE FIRE DEPARTMENT
Spearville
FDID FO304 0 incidents 10 vol
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.