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2025 County Report

Fires in Le Flore County, OK

In 2025, fire departments serving Le Flore County responded to 180 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $600K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

27,844 residents FIPS 40079 76 cities · 28 fire depts
Total incidents
180
1,366 across 5 years
Building fires
34
66 wildland
Property loss
$3.0M
$2.5M structure · $509K contents
Casualties
3 / 0
3 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Grass fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.

180
Total Incidents
Grass fire 36 20.0%
Building fires 34 18.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 23 12.8%
Passenger vehicle fire 10 5.6%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 8 4.4%
All other categories 69 38.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Le Flore County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 18
Feb 13
Mar 41
Apr 12
May 8
Jun 10
Jul 15
Aug 27
Sep 13
Oct 11
Nov 8
Dec 4
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Le Flore County

1,366 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 245
2022 362
2023 301
2024 278
2025 180
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 34 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
26%
26
Cause undetermined
65%
64
Intentional / arson
1%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
1%
1
Under investigation
5%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.9M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Le Flore County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 78% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $600,000 Poteau Building fires Major
2 $300,000 Wister Building fires Major
3 $200,000 Poteau Building fires Significant
4 $150,000 Poteau Building fires Significant
5 $150,000 Wister Building fires Significant
6 $150,000 Wister Building fires Significant
7 $125,000 Poteau Building fires Significant
8 $90,000 Wister Building fires Significant
9 $85,000 Howe Building fires Significant
10 $80,000 Monroe Building fires Significant
06 How Le Flore County compares

Le Flore County vs OK vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.46
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Le Flore County
6.46
OK avg
10.18
US avg
7.15
1.22
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Le Flore County
1.22
OK avg
0.91
US avg
0.82
107.7
Civilian fire deaths per million
Le Flore County
107.7
OK avg
6.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Le Flore County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 40079.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Le Flore County

28 departments report from this county.

Poteau
—
FDID 40011 50 incidents 18 paid
Wister
Wister
FDID 40015 39 incidents
Murryspur
Spiro
FDID 40028 22 incidents 20 vol
Hodgen
—
FDID 40024 20 incidents 9 vol
Arkoma
Arkoma
FDID 40001 15 incidents 16 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in OK

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 West 60 2018 BIA 20,304
2 CANDY CREEK 2021 BIA 18,252
3 HWY 123 2023 BIA 17,220
4 RUSH 2024 FWS 12,461
5 NORTH DRUM 2023 BIA 11,486
6 ZINK 2023 BIA 11,286
7 Biggy 2018 BIA 10,360
8 Crater Creek 2015 FWS 9,769
9 ZINK 2024 BIA 8,101
10 JAVINE 2021 BIA 7,448

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.