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2025 County Report

Fires in Miller County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving Miller County responded to 652 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $205K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

8,786 residents FIPS 29131 27 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
652
2,239 across 5 years
Building fires
52
82 wildland
Property loss
$1.8M
$1.3M structure · $486K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.

652
Total Incidents
Authorized controlled burning 328 50.3%
Building fires 52 8.0%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 50 7.7%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 31 4.8%
Unauthorized burning 27 4.1%
All other categories 164 25.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Miller County?

Mar peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 11
Feb 32
Mar 112
Apr 84
May 64
Jun 34
Jul 48
Aug 61
Sep 39
Oct 46
Nov 62
Dec 59
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Miller County

2,239 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 225
2022 438
2023 516
2024 408
2025 652
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 52 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
61%
35
Cause undetermined
21%
12
Intentional / arson
9%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
4
Under investigation
2%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.0M in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $205,000 Eldon Building fires Significant
2 $150,000 Ulman Building fires Significant
3 $150,000 Iberia Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 KAISER Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
5 $100,000 Iberia Building fires Significant
6 $80,000 LAKE OZARK Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
7 $70,000 Iberia Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
8 $60,000 Kaiser Building fires Significant
9 $60,000 LAKE OZARK Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $60,000 Iberia Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
06 How Miller County compares

Miller County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

74.21
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Miller County
74.21
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
5.92
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Miller County
5.92
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Miller County
0
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Miller County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29131.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Miller County

1 departments report from this county.

Iberia Rural Fire Prot Dist
Iberia
FDID 06606 8 incidents 34 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.