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2025 County Report

Fires in Knox County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving Knox County responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss.

1,910 residents FIPS 29103 16 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
26
63 across 5 years
Building fires
5
13 wildland
Property loss
$435K
$375K structure · $60K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.

26
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 6 23.1%
Building fires 5 19.2%
Grass fire 4 15.4%
Natural vegetation fire, other 2 7.7%
Cooking fire, confined to container 1 3.8%
All other categories 8 30.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Knox County?

Mar peaks. Apr dips.

Jan 3
Feb 1
Mar 17
Apr 0
May 2
Jun 1
Jul 2
Aug 0
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Knox County

63 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 2
2022 5
2023 16
2024 14
2025 26
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
86%
6
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
14%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

4 fires · $375K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Knox County during 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 Edina Building fires Major
2 $100,000 Knox City Building fires Significant
3 $20,000 Baring Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
4 $5,000 Baring Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Knox County compares

Knox County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.61
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Knox County
13.61
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
2.62
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Knox County
2.62
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Knox County
0
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Knox County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29103.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Knox County

2 departments report from this county.

Baring Vol Fire Dept Inc
Baring
FDID 05205 14 incidents
Hurdland Vol Fire Dept Inc
Hurdland
FDID 05206 0 incidents
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.