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2025 County Report

Fires in Perry County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving Perry County responded to 32 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $90K property loss.

10,368 residents FIPS 29157 29 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
32
273 across 5 years
Building fires
19
4 wildland
Property loss
$166K
$135K structure · $31K contents
Casualties
1 / 0
1 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 97% of all calls.

32
Total Incidents
Building fires 19 59.4%
Carbon monoxide incident 4 12.5%
Power line down 4 12.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 3 9.4%
Grass fire 1 3.1%
All other categories 1 3.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Perry County?

Jan peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 17
Feb 0
Mar 3
Apr 0
May 0
Jun 4
Jul 1
Aug 0
Sep 0
Oct 5
Nov 2
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Perry County

273 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 6
2022 15
2023 124
2024 96
2025 32
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 19 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
2
Cause undetermined
25%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
25%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

4 fires · $135K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Perry County during 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $90,000 PERRYVILLE Building fires Significant
2 $25,000 PERRYVILLE Building fires Significant
3 $15,000 PERRYVILLE Building fires Significant
4 $5,000 PERRYVILLE Building fires Significant
06 How Perry County compares

Perry County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

3.09
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Perry County
3.09
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
1.83
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Perry County
1.83
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
96.5
Civilian fire deaths per million
Perry County
96.5
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Perry County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29157.

CityPopulation 
Perryville 8,536 View ›
Brewer 477 View ›
Shakertowne 452 View ›
Altenburg 387 View ›
Frohna 328 View ›
Longtown 104 View ›
Lithium 47 View ›
Biehle 37 View ›
Point Rest 0 View ›
Silver Lake 0 View ›
Friedenberg 0 View ›
Parker Lake 0 View ›
08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Perry County

3 departments report from this county.

Rural Perry Co Fire Prot Assn
Perryville
FDID 07902 10 incidents
Biehle Comm Fire Prot Assn
Perryville
FDID 07904 4 incidents
Perryville Fire Dept
PERRYVILLE
FDID 07901 0 incidents
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.