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2025 County Report

Fires in Ottawa County, KS

In 2025, fire departments serving Ottawa County responded to 32 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

3,477 residents FIPS 20143 15 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
32
164 across 5 years
Building fires
2
11 wildland
Property loss
$285K
$279K structure · $6K 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 59% of all calls.

32
Total Incidents
Grass fire 7 21.9%
Passenger vehicle fire 4 12.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 4 12.5%
Building fires 2 6.2%
Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other 2 6.2%
All other categories 13 40.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Ottawa County?

Mar peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 0
Feb 2
Mar 9
Apr 1
May 2
Jun 4
Jul 3
Aug 4
Sep 1
Oct 3
Nov 1
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Ottawa County

164 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 19
2022 41
2023 43
2024 29
2025 32
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 2 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
80%
8
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
10%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
10%
1
05 The biggest fires

8 fires · $279K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Ottawa County during 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $150,000 Ada Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
2 $65,000 Tescott Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $40,000 Saline County Building fires Significant
4 $9,000 Tescott Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $8,000 Minneapolis Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
6 $4,000 Minneapolis Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $2,500 Tescott Outside storage fire Significant
8 $500 Tescott Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Ottawa County compares

Ottawa County vs KS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.2
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Ottawa County
9.2
KS avg
9.66
US avg
7.15
0.58
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Ottawa County
0.58
KS avg
0.99
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Ottawa County
0
KS avg
8.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Ottawa County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 20143.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Ottawa County

6 departments report from this county.

Ottawa County Fire Dist6
Tescott
FDID OT306 13 incidents 27 vol
MINNEAPOLIS CITY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID OT201 10 incidents 22 vol
OTTAWA LINCOLN TWP 1
—
FDID OT202 3 incidents 15 vol
Ottawa County RFD4
Bennington
FDID OT303 0 incidents 43 vol
Culver Rural Fire Dist5
Culver
FDID OT304 0 incidents 17 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.