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2025 County Report

Fires in Scott County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving Scott County responded to 846 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.5M property loss.

28,729 residents FIPS 29201 24 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
846
3,318 across 5 years
Building fires
103
77 wildland
Property loss
$5.9M
$4.4M structure · $1.5M contents
Casualties
2 / 1
2 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Aircraft standby lead by count. Top five categories make up about 84% of all calls.

846
Total Incidents
Aircraft standby 491 58.0%
Building fires 103 12.2%
Grass fire 54 6.4%
Power line down 35 4.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 26 3.1%
All other categories 137 16.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Scott County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 46
Feb 29
Mar 187
Apr 141
May 129
Jun 127
Jul 138
Aug 16
Sep 14
Oct 6
Nov 3
Dec 10
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Scott County

3,318 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 246
2022 743
2023 768
2024 715
2025 846
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 103 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
45%
37
Cause undetermined
25%
21
Intentional / arson
16%
13
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
7
Under investigation
5%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $4.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Scott County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 91% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,500,000 Sikeston Building fires Major
2 $1,000,000 SALCEDO Building fires Major
3 $750,000 Scott City Building fires Major
4 $150,000 SCOTT CITY Building fires Significant
5 $150,000 SIKESTON Building fires Significant
6 $120,000 SIKESTON Building fires Significant
7 $101,200 SCOTT CITY Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 Scott City Building fires Significant
9 $70,000 Sikeston Building fires Significant
10 $60,000 CHAFFEE Building fires Significant
06 How Scott County compares

Scott County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

29.45
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Scott County
29.45
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
3.59
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Scott County
3.59
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
69.6
Civilian fire deaths per million
Scott County
69.6
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Scott County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29201.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Scott County

6 departments report from this county.

Sikeston Dept of Public Safety
SIKESTON
FDID 10102 164 incidents 72 paid
Benton Fire Dept
Benton
FDID 10101 52 incidents
Oran Fire Prot Dist
Oran
FDID 10105 0 incidents 15 vol
NBC Fire Prot Dist
Benton
FDID 10107 0 incidents
Miner Fire Dept
Miner
FDID 10109 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.