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2025 County Report

Fires in Madison County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving Madison County responded to 259 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $130K property loss.

5,520 residents FIPS 29123 24 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
259
675 across 5 years
Building fires
34
49 wildland
Property loss
$164K
$152K structure · $13K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 74% of all calls.

259
Total Incidents
Power line down 100 38.6%
Building fires 34 13.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 33 12.7%
Passenger vehicle fire 13 5.0%
Authorized controlled burning 11 4.2%
All other categories 68 26.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Madison County?

Jan peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 104
Feb 9
Mar 32
Apr 14
May 9
Jun 8
Jul 17
Aug 12
Sep 31
Oct 8
Nov 11
Dec 4
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Madison County

675 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 86
2022 125
2023 112
2024 93
2025 259
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
52%
26
Cause undetermined
40%
20
Intentional / arson
4%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
2%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
0
05 The biggest fires

8 fires · $152K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Madison County during 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $130,000 Fredericktown Building fires Significant
2 $8,000 Fredericktown Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
3 $5,000 fredericktown Passenger vehicle fire Significant
4 $3,000 Fredericktown Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $2,000 Fredericktown Building fires Significant
6 $2,000 Fredericktown Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $1,000 Fredericktown Fire, other Significant
8 $500 Fredericktown Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
06 How Madison County compares

Madison County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

46.92
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Madison County
46.92
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
6.16
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Madison County
6.16
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Madison County
0
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Madison County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29123.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Madison County

1 departments report from this county.

Fredericktown Fire Dept
Fredericktown
FDID 06201 159 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.