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2025 County Report

Fires in Iron County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving Iron County responded to 135 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

4,263 residents FIPS 29093 21 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
135
445 across 5 years
Building fires
40
44 wildland
Property loss
$298K
$201K structure · $98K contents
Casualties
0 / 3
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 3 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.

135
Total Incidents
Building fires 40 29.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 31 23.0%
Power line down 29 21.5%
Grass fire 7 5.2%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 5 3.7%
All other categories 23 17.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Iron County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 31
Feb 13
Mar 34
Apr 9
May 8
Jun 8
Jul 5
Aug 15
Sep 8
Oct 1
Nov 2
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Iron County

445 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 37
2022 51
2023 31
2024 191
2025 135
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 40 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
13
Cause undetermined
31%
8
Intentional / arson
8%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
4%
1
Under investigation
8%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
05 The biggest fires

6 fires · $201K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Iron County during 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 Ironton Building fires Significant
2 $40,000 Middle Brook Building fires Significant
3 $30,000 Belleview Building fires Significant
4 $20,000 Ironton Building fires Significant
5 $10,000 Arcadia Building fires Significant
6 $500 Annapolis Building fires Significant
06 How Iron County compares

Iron County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

31.67
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Iron County
31.67
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
9.38
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Iron County
9.38
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Iron County
0
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Iron County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29093.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Iron County

1 departments report from this county.

Pilot Knob Fire Prot Dist
Pilot Knob
FDID 04707 104 incidents 25 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.