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2025 County Report

Fires in St. Louis city, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving St. Louis city responded to 5,234 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $891K property loss.

298,018 residents FIPS 29510 5 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
5,234
11,244 across 5 years
Building fires
512
235 wildland
Property loss
$6.8M
$4.8M structure · $2.0M contents
Casualties
3 / 15
3 civ deaths · 9 civ inj · 6 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.

5,234
Total Incidents
Cooking fire, confined to container 929 17.7%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 573 10.9%
Building fires 512 9.8%
Outside rubbish fire, other 464 8.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 360 6.9%
All other categories 2,396 45.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in St. Louis city?

Jul peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 353
Feb 373
Mar 504
Apr 396
May 485
Jun 399
Jul 539
Aug 427
Sep 455
Oct 400
Nov 444
Dec 459
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in St. Louis city

11,244 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 840
2022 859
2023 382
2024 3,929
2025 5,234
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 512 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
34%
437
Cause undetermined
38%
490
Intentional / arson
9%
114
Equipment / heat source failure
5%
70
Under investigation
10%
132
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
11
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.9M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in St. Louis city during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 60% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $891,212 St Louis Building fires Major
2 $300,000 St Louis Building fires Major
3 $300,000 St Louis Building fires Major
4 $250,000 St Louis Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
5 $210,000 St Louis Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
6 $200,000 St Louis Building fires Significant
7 $200,000 St Louis Building fires Significant
8 $200,000 St Louis Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
9 $200,000 St Louis Building fires Significant
10 $100,000 St Louis Building fires Significant
06 How St. Louis city compares

St. Louis city vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

17.56
Incidents per 1,000 residents
St. Louis city
17.56
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
1.72
Building fires per 1,000 residents
St. Louis city
1.72
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
10.1
Civilian fire deaths per million
St. Louis city
10.1
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in St. Louis city

5 cities mapped to FIPS 29510.

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.