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2025 County Report

Fires in Thomas County, KS

In 2025, fire departments serving Thomas County responded to 31 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.

6,212 residents FIPS 20193 11 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
31
229 across 5 years
Building fires
0
11 wildland
Property loss
$239K
$229K structure · $10K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.

31
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 5 16.1%
Grass fire 5 16.1%
Passenger vehicle fire 3 9.7%
Unauthorized burning 3 9.7%
Road freight or transport vehicle fire 2 6.5%
All other categories 13 41.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Thomas County?

Jul peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 1
Feb 4
Mar 4
Apr 2
May 5
Jun 4
Jul 9
Aug 1
Sep 1
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Thomas County

229 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 61
2022 54
2023 49
2024 34
2025 31
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
43%
3
Cause undetermined
29%
2
Intentional / arson
14%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

6 fires · $229K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Thomas County during 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 Colby Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
2 $10,000 COLBY Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $5,000 Rexford Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
4 $5,000 Colby Grass fire Significant
5 $5,000 Levant Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $3,500 Gem Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Thomas County compares

Thomas County vs KS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.99
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Thomas County
4.99
KS avg
9.66
US avg
7.15
0
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Thomas County
0
KS avg
0.99
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Thomas County
0
KS avg
8.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Thomas County

11 cities mapped to FIPS 20193.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Thomas County

5 departments report from this county.

Colby Fire Department
Colby
FDID TH201 27 incidents 6 paid
Rural Fire District4
Rexford
FDID SD403 2 incidents
GEM FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID TH306 1 incidents
BREWSTER FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID TH302 0 incidents
THOMAS CO FIRE DIST 5
—
FDID TH406 0 incidents
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.