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2025 County Report

Fires in Hickory County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving Hickory County responded to 196 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $215K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

2,177 residents FIPS 29085 15 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
196
282 across 5 years
Building fires
5
33 wildland
Property loss
$481K
$403K structure · $78K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.

196
Total Incidents
Authorized controlled burning 116 59.2%
Aircraft standby 15 7.7%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 12 6.1%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 8 4.1%
Natural vegetation fire, other 6 3.1%
All other categories 39 19.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Hickory County?

Apr peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 9
Feb 11
Mar 28
Apr 31
May 13
Jun 11
Jul 11
Aug 13
Sep 13
Oct 15
Nov 19
Dec 22
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Hickory County

282 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 20
2022 43
2023 17
2024 6
2025 196
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 5 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
43%
6
Cause undetermined
21%
3
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
36%
5
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $389K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Hickory County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 97% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $215,000 Hermitage Forest, woods or wildland fire Significant
2 $38,000 Wheatland Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
3 $25,000 Quincy Building fires Significant
4 $24,000 Quincy Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
5 $20,000 Wheatland Special outside fire, other Significant
6 $20,000 Hermitage Water vehicle fire Significant
7 $15,000 Wheatland Forest, woods or wildland fire Significant
8 $12,000 Wheatland Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $10,000 Wheatland Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other Significant
10 $10,000 Hermitage Outside rubbish fire, other Significant
06 How Hickory County compares

Hickory County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

90.03
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Hickory County
90.03
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
2.3
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Hickory County
2.3
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Hickory County
0
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Hickory County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29085.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Hickory County

4 departments report from this county.

Pittsburg Vol Fire Dept Inc
Pittsburg
FDID 04302 0 incidents 32 vol
Cross Timbers Rural Fire Dept Inc
Cross Timbers
FDID 04304 0 incidents 12 vol
Galmey Vol Fire Dept
Wheatland
FDID 04305 0 incidents 13 vol
Hickory Co Comm Fire
Preston
FDID 04308 0 incidents 10 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.