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2025 County Report

Fires in Osage County, KS

In 2025, fire departments serving Osage County responded to 189 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $130K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

9,861 residents FIPS 20139 17 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
189
1,073 across 5 years
Building fires
37
75 wildland
Property loss
$1.5M
$836K structure · $628K 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 66% of all calls.

189
Total Incidents
Grass fire 49 25.9%
Building fires 37 19.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 19 10.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 11 5.8%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 9 4.8%
All other categories 64 33.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Osage County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 13
Feb 10
Mar 66
Apr 27
May 10
Jun 12
Jul 16
Aug 12
Sep 5
Oct 7
Nov 2
Dec 9
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Osage County

1,073 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 244
2022 303
2023 180
2024 157
2025 189
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 37 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
45%
36
Cause undetermined
24%
19
Intentional / arson
22%
18
Equipment / heat source failure
1%
1
Under investigation
2%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
6%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $749K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Osage County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 90% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $130,000 Burlingame Building fires Significant
2 $122,977 Carondale Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle Significant
3 $115,670 Burlingame Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
4 $100,000 Burlingame Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
5 $80,000 Burlingame Building fires Significant
6 $80,000 Vassar Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle Significant
7 $50,000 Burlingame Building fires Significant
8 $30,000 OVERBROOK Building fires Significant
9 $20,000 Burlingame Building fires Significant
10 $20,000 Burlingame Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Osage County compares

Osage County vs KS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

19.17
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Osage County
19.17
KS avg
9.66
US avg
7.15
3.75
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Osage County
3.75
KS avg
0.99
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Osage County
0
KS avg
8.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Osage County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 20139.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Osage County

8 departments report from this county.

OSAGE CO FIRE DIST 5
—
FDID OS411 61 incidents 35 vol
OSAGE CO FIRE DIST 1
—
FDID OS303 39 incidents 27 vol
BURLINGAME FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID OS302 36 incidents 25 vol
Osage County Dist 4
Overbrook
FDID OS305 35 incidents 30 vol
Scranton Fire Department
scranton
FDID OS307 8 incidents 14 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.