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2025 County Report

Fires in Smith County, KS

In 2025, fire departments serving Smith County responded to 22 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $18K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

2,376 residents FIPS 20183 14 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
22
106 across 5 years
Building fires
0
7 wildland
Property loss
$38K
$38K structure · $0 contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Fire, other lead by count. Top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.

22
Total Incidents
Fire, other 4 18.2%
Grass fire 4 18.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 3 13.6%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 2 9.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 2 9.1%
All other categories 7 31.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Smith County?

Feb peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 1
Feb 7
Mar 6
Apr 1
May 2
Jun 3
Jul 1
Aug 1
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Smith County

106 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 29
2022 30
2023 13
2024 12
2025 22
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 0 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
0%
0
Cause undetermined
57%
4
Intentional / arson
29%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

3 fires · $38K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Smith County during 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $17,500 Lebanon Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
2 $10,000 lebanon Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
3 $10,000 Smith Center Grass fire Significant
06 How Smith County compares

Smith County vs KS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.26
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Smith County
9.26
KS avg
9.66
US avg
7.15
0
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Smith County
0
KS avg
0.99
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Smith County
0
KS avg
8.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Smith County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 20183.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Smith County

5 departments report from this county.

Lebanon Fire Department
Lebanon
FDID SM303 11 incidents 14 vol
SMITH CENTER FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID SM304 10 incidents 15 vol
Gaylord Volunteer Fire Dept
Gaylord
FDID SM301 0 incidents 13 vol
KENSINGTON FIRE DEPARTMENT
Kensington
FDID SM302 0 incidents 23 vol
Athol City Rural Fire Dept
Athol
FDID SM405 0 incidents 10 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in KS

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 ANNUAL BUR 1998 NPS 60,039
2 Tunner 2011 USFS 19,656
3 Boiling Springs 2021 PRI 4,571
4 BIG SALT MARSH 2010 FWS 3,697
5 Steeler 2006 USFS 2,380
6 Greenwood 2010 USFS 2,078
7 15 Two Section East Traps 2015 NPS 2,060
8 21 Big South 2021 NPS 1,954
9 Cottonwood 2018 FWS 1,508
10 East Kennedy Creek 2019 PRI 1,115

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.