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2025 County Report

Fires in Vernon County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving Vernon County responded to 9 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $350K property loss.

9,466 residents FIPS 29217 29 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
9
1,005 across 5 years
Building fires
6
0 wildland
Property loss
$510K
$350K structure · $160K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.

9
Total Incidents
Building fires 6 66.7%
Outside storage fire 2 22.2%
Outside equipment fire 1 11.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Vernon County?

May peaks. Jan dips.

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

Year over year in Vernon County

1,005 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 332
2022 287
2023 282
2024 95
2025 9
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 6 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
0%
0
Cause undetermined
25%
1
Intentional / arson
25%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
25%
1
Under investigation
25%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

1 fires · $350K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Vernon County during 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $350,000 Sheldon Building fires Major
06 How Vernon County compares

Vernon County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

0.95
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Vernon County
0.95
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
0.63
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Vernon County
0.63
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Vernon County
0
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Vernon County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29217.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Vernon County

3 departments report from this county.

Nevada Fire Dept
NEVADA
FDID 10901 0 incidents 13 paid
Bronaugh Comm Fire Prot Assn
Bronaugh
FDID 10905 0 incidents
Sheldon Fire Dept
Sheldon
FDID 10907 0 incidents 1 paid 6 vol
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.