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2025 County Report

Fires in Ness County, KS

In 2025, fire departments serving Ness County responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

2,076 residents FIPS 20135 11 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
11
109 across 5 years
Building fires
0
4 wildland
Property loss
$0
$0 structure · $0 contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 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 91% of all calls.

11
Total Incidents
Grass fire 4 36.4%
Fire, other 2 18.2%
Accident, potential accident, other 2 18.2%
Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other 1 9.1%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 1 9.1%
All other categories 1 9.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Ness County?

Mar peaks. Apr dips.

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

Year over year in Ness County

109 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 47
2022 16
2023 24
2024 11
2025 11
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 0 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
29%
2
Cause undetermined
43%
3
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
28%
2
06 How Ness County compares

Ness County vs KS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

5.3
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Ness County
5.3
KS avg
9.66
US avg
7.15
0
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Ness County
0
KS avg
0.99
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Ness County
0
KS avg
8.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Ness County

11 cities mapped to FIPS 20135.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Ness County

5 departments report from this county.

Brownell Rural Fire Dept
Brownell
FDID NS302 5 incidents 10 vol
Ness County Fire Dist1
Ness City
FDID NS303 5 incidents 16 vol
RANSOM FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID NS304 0 incidents 15 vol
Utica RFD Ness County3
—
FDID NS305 0 incidents 18 vol
Ness Co Fire Dist2
Bazine
FDID NS401 0 incidents 30 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in KS

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 ANNUAL BUR 1998 NPS 60,039
2 Tunner 2011 USFS 19,656
3 Boiling Springs 2021 PRI 4,571
4 BIG SALT MARSH 2010 FWS 3,697
5 Steeler 2006 USFS 2,380
6 Greenwood 2010 USFS 2,078
7 15 Two Section East Traps 2015 NPS 2,060
8 21 Big South 2021 NPS 1,954
9 Cottonwood 2018 FWS 1,508
10 East Kennedy Creek 2019 PRI 1,115

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.