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2025 County Report

Fires in New Madrid County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving New Madrid County responded to 154 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $400K property loss.

10,505 residents FIPS 29143 34 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
154
909 across 5 years
Building fires
29
53 wildland
Property loss
$1.1M
$1.0M structure · $104K 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 73% of all calls.

154
Total Incidents
Grass fire 31 20.1%
Building fires 29 18.8%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 21 13.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 19 12.3%
Aircraft standby 12 7.8%
All other categories 42 27.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in New Madrid County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 18
Feb 14
Mar 33
Apr 18
May 13
Jun 6
Jul 15
Aug 21
Sep 14
Oct 2
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in New Madrid County

909 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 120
2022 212
2023 185
2024 238
2025 154
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 29 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
31%
19
Cause undetermined
39%
24
Intentional / arson
10%
6
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
5
Under investigation
11%
7
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $995K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in New Madrid County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 97% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $400,000 New Madrid Building fires Major
2 $150,000 MATTHEWS Building fires Significant
3 $150,000 MATTHEWS Fire, other Significant
4 $100,000 MATTHEWS Building fires Significant
5 $75,000 MATTHEWS Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
6 $40,000 MATTHEWS Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
7 $40,000 Morehouse Building fires Significant
8 $15,000 New Madrid Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $15,000 MATTHEWS Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $10,000 MATTHEWS Building fires Significant
06 How New Madrid County compares

New Madrid County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

14.66
Incidents per 1,000 residents
New Madrid County
14.66
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
2.76
Building fires per 1,000 residents
New Madrid County
2.76
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
New Madrid County
0
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in New Madrid County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29143.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in New Madrid County

3 departments report from this county.

Marston Vol Fire Dept
Martson
FDID 07201 0 incidents
Portageville Fire Dept
Portageville
FDID 07204 0 incidents 1 paid 31 vol
Howardville Fire Department
Howardville
FDID 07210 0 incidents 6 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.