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2025 County Report

Fires in Payne County, OK

In 2025, fire departments serving Payne County responded to 524 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

62,628 residents FIPS 40119 19 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
524
2,945 across 5 years
Building fires
35
178 wildland
Property loss
$5.2M
$3.5M structure · $1.8M contents
Casualties
1 / 3
1 civ deaths · 3 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.

524
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 78 14.9%
Grass fire 61 11.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 52 9.9%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 44 8.4%
Authorized controlled burning 40 7.6%
All other categories 249 47.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Payne County?

Mar peaks. Jul dips.

Jan 50
Feb 43
Mar 162
Apr 44
May 39
Jun 27
Jul 18
Aug 31
Sep 30
Oct 38
Nov 24
Dec 18
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Payne County

2,945 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 452
2022 595
2023 638
2024 736
2025 524
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 35 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
41%
55
Cause undetermined
25%
33
Intentional / arson
11%
14
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
13
Under investigation
7%
9
Act of nature (lightning)
6%
9
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Payne County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 70% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,000,000 stillwater Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Major
2 $250,000 STILLWATER Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
3 $200,000 Cushing Building fires Significant
4 $200,000 STILLWATER Building fires Significant
5 $200,000 Stillwater Building fires Significant
6 $150,000 STILLWATER Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
7 $100,000 CUSHING Forest, woods or wildland fire Significant
8 $100,000 STILLWATER Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 STILLWATER Building fires Significant
10 $100,000 STILLWATER Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Payne County compares

Payne County vs OK vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

8.37
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Payne County
8.37
OK avg
10.18
US avg
7.15
0.56
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Payne County
0.56
OK avg
0.91
US avg
0.82
16
Civilian fire deaths per million
Payne County
16
OK avg
6.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Payne County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 40119.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Payne County

6 departments report from this county.

Cushing Fire Dept
Cushing
FDID 60001 68 incidents 23 paid
Perkins
Perkins
FDID 60003 30 incidents 25 vol
Yale
Yale
FDID 60006 25 incidents
Ripley
Ripley
FDID 60004 1 incidents 15 vol
Glencoe
—
FDID 60002 0 incidents 13 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in OK

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 West 60 2018 BIA 20,304
2 CANDY CREEK 2021 BIA 18,252
3 HWY 123 2023 BIA 17,220
4 RUSH 2024 FWS 12,461
5 NORTH DRUM 2023 BIA 11,486
6 ZINK 2023 BIA 11,286
7 Biggy 2018 BIA 10,360
8 Crater Creek 2015 FWS 9,769
9 ZINK 2024 BIA 8,101
10 JAVINE 2021 BIA 7,448

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.