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2025 County Report

Fires in Harvey County, KS

In 2025, fire departments serving Harvey County responded to 306 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $2.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

29,178 residents FIPS 20079 17 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
306
1,901 across 5 years
Building fires
38
51 wildland
Property loss
$3.6M
$2.8M structure · $772K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.

306
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 42 13.7%
Building fires 38 12.4%
Power line down 33 10.8%
Grass fire 29 9.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 17 5.6%
All other categories 147 48.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Harvey County?

Jun peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 15
Feb 20
Mar 45
Apr 23
May 22
Jun 46
Jul 35
Aug 28
Sep 7
Oct 13
Nov 22
Dec 30
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Harvey County

1,901 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 351
2022 451
2023 383
2024 410
2025 306
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 38 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
53%
41
Cause undetermined
8%
6
Intentional / arson
13%
10
Equipment / heat source failure
13%
10
Under investigation
12%
9
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Harvey County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 92% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $2,000,000 Hesston Building fires Major
2 $100,000 Newton Building fires Significant
3 $100,000 Newton Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 Newton Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 NEWTON Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 Newton Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
7 $35,082 Newton Building fires Significant
8 $35,000 Newton Outside storage fire Significant
9 $30,000 Newton Building fires Significant
10 $30,000 Newton Building fires Significant
06 How Harvey County compares

Harvey County vs KS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.49
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Harvey County
10.49
KS avg
9.66
US avg
7.15
1.3
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Harvey County
1.3
KS avg
0.99
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Harvey County
0
KS avg
8.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Harvey County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 20079.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Harvey County

6 departments report from this county.

Newton FireEMS
Newton
FDID HV101 201 incidents 40 paid
Hesston Fire Dept
Hesston
FDID HV304 40 incidents
Harvey Co Fire Dist5
—
FDID HV302 28 incidents 14 vol
Halstead Fire EMS
Halstead
FDID HV303 8 incidents 2 paid
Harvey Co Fire Dist1
Walton
FDID HV306 5 incidents 22 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.