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2025 County Report

Fires in Putnam County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving Putnam County responded to 32 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

1,973 residents FIPS 29171 19 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
32
84 across 5 years
Building fires
2
11 wildland
Property loss
$525K
$450K structure · $75K contents
Casualties
1 / 0
1 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 94% of all calls.

32
Total Incidents
Authorized controlled burning 17 53.1%
Grass fire 8 25.0%
Building fires 2 6.2%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 2 6.2%
Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence 1 3.1%
All other categories 2 6.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Putnam County?

Mar peaks. Jun dips.

Jan 5
Feb 3
Mar 11
Apr 8
May 4
Jun 0
Jul 0
Aug 1
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Putnam County

84 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 0
2022 10
2023 31
2024 11
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
0%
0
Cause undetermined
100%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $450K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Putnam County during 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 Livonia Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
2 $200,000 Unionville Building fires Significant
06 How Putnam County compares

Putnam County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

16.22
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Putnam County
16.22
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
1.01
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Putnam County
1.01
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
506.8
Civilian fire deaths per million
Putnam County
506.8
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Putnam County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29171.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Putnam County

1 departments report from this county.

Liberty Twp Fire Prot Dist
LIVONIA
FDID 08605 38 incidents 12 vol
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.