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2025 County Report

Fires in St. Francois County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving St. Francois County responded to 631 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.5M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

47,812 residents FIPS 29187 36 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
631
2,875 across 5 years
Building fires
186
77 wildland
Property loss
$2.5M
$1.6M structure · $845K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 1 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 73% of all calls.

631
Total Incidents
Building fires 186 29.5%
Power line down 156 24.7%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 53 8.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 47 7.4%
Passenger vehicle fire 19 3.0%
All other categories 170 26.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in St. Francois County?

Jan peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 133
Feb 41
Mar 102
Apr 41
May 36
Jun 29
Jul 54
Aug 42
Sep 40
Oct 45
Nov 48
Dec 20
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in St. Francois County

2,875 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 460
2022 507
2023 675
2024 602
2025 631
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 186 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
58%
41
Cause undetermined
11%
8
Intentional / arson
11%
8
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
8
Under investigation
6%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in St. Francois County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,500,000 Desloge Building fires Major
2 $63,300 IRON MOUNTAIN LAKE Building fires Significant
3 $36,570 Bismarck Building fires Significant
4 $15,000 Farmington Building fires Significant
5 $14,000 FARMINGTON Building fires Significant
6 $10,000 Desloge Building fires Significant
7 $3,000 FARMINGTON Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $1,000 FARMINGTON Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $1,000 FARMINGTON Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $150 FARMINGTON Cooking fire, confined to container Significant
06 How St. Francois County compares

St. Francois County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.2
Incidents per 1,000 residents
St. Francois County
13.2
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
3.89
Building fires per 1,000 residents
St. Francois County
3.89
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
St. Francois County
0
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in St. Francois County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29187.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in St. Francois County

10 departments report from this county.

Farmington Fire Department
FARMINGTON
FDID 09411 309 incidents 11 paid
Bismarck Fire Prot Dist
BISMARCK
FDID 09419 156 incidents 25 vol
Leadwood Fire Prot Dist
Leadwood
FDID 09408 95 incidents
Desloge Vol Fire Dept
Desloge
FDID 09404 6 incidents 1 paid
Bismarck City Fire Dept
Bismarck
FDID 09401 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.