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2025 County Report

Fires in Pittsburg County, OK

In 2025, fire departments serving Pittsburg County responded to 404 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

29,776 residents FIPS 40121 47 cities · 26 fire depts
Total incidents
404
2,579 across 5 years
Building fires
52
132 wildland
Property loss
$3.4M
$1.9M structure · $1.5M contents
Casualties
1 / 0
1 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 53% of all calls.

404
Total Incidents
Grass fire 73 18.1%
Building fires 52 12.9%
Unauthorized burning 36 8.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 28 6.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 25 6.2%
All other categories 190 47.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Pittsburg County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 54
Feb 42
Mar 109
Apr 26
May 20
Jun 19
Jul 31
Aug 16
Sep 25
Oct 13
Nov 20
Dec 29
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Pittsburg County

2,579 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 484
2022 665
2023 463
2024 563
2025 404
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 52 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
42%
48
Cause undetermined
16%
18
Intentional / arson
17%
19
Equipment / heat source failure
4%
5
Under investigation
13%
15
Act of nature (lightning)
8%
8
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.5M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Pittsburg County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 80% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 MCALESTER Building fires Major
2 $300,000 McAlester Building fires Major
3 $225,000 McAlester Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
4 $150,000 MCALESTER Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
5 $100,000 MCALESTER Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 McAlester Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
7 $50,000 Alderson Building fires Significant
8 $50,000 Krebs Building fires Significant
9 $50,000 MCALESTER Building fires Significant
10 $45,000 MCALESTER Building fires Significant
06 How Pittsburg County compares

Pittsburg County vs OK vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.57
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Pittsburg County
13.57
OK avg
10.18
US avg
7.15
1.75
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Pittsburg County
1.75
OK avg
0.91
US avg
0.82
33.6
Civilian fire deaths per million
Pittsburg County
33.6
OK avg
6.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Pittsburg County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 40121.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Pittsburg County

26 departments report from this county.

McAlester
McAlester
FDID 61010 164 incidents 43 paid
Krebs
Krebs
FDID 61009 91 incidents 20 vol
Crowder
—
FDID 61004 44 incidents 16 vol
Kiowa
kiowa
FDID 61008 21 incidents 15 vol
Haywood Arpelar
—
FDID 61023 20 incidents 16 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.