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2025 County Report

Fires in Marion County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving Marion County responded to 266 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $125K property loss.

20,918 residents FIPS 29127 23 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
266
1,417 across 5 years
Building fires
25
21 wildland
Property loss
$1.1M
$838K structure · $304K contents
Casualties
3 / 3
3 civ deaths · 3 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Unauthorized burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.

266
Total Incidents
Unauthorized burning 54 20.3%
Power line down 35 13.2%
Building fires 25 9.4%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 23 8.6%
Outside rubbish fire, other 16 6.0%
All other categories 113 42.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Marion County?

Apr peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 19
Feb 19
Mar 34
Apr 42
May 19
Jun 24
Jul 32
Aug 25
Sep 20
Oct 21
Nov 11
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Marion County

1,417 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 341
2022 227
2023 271
2024 312
2025 266
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 25 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
35%
19
Cause undetermined
31%
17
Intentional / arson
6%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
5
Under investigation
19%
10
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $770K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Marion County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 92% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $125,000 Hannibal Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 Hannibal Building fires Significant
3 $100,000 Hannibal Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 Hannibal Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Hannibal Building fires Significant
6 $75,000 Hannibal Building fires Significant
7 $75,000 Hannibal Building fires Significant
8 $50,000 Hannibal Building fires Significant
9 $25,000 Hannibal Building fires Significant
10 $20,000 Hannibal Building fires Significant
06 How Marion County compares

Marion County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

12.72
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Marion County
12.72
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
1.2
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Marion County
1.2
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
143.4
Civilian fire deaths per million
Marion County
143.4
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Marion County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29127.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Marion County

1 departments report from this county.

Palmyra Fire Prot Dist
Palmyra
FDID 06402 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.