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2025 County Report

Fires in Washington County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving Washington County responded to 301 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

3,707 residents FIPS 29221 35 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
301
1,447 across 5 years
Building fires
144
110 wildland
Property loss
$872K
$696K structure · $176K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 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 85% of all calls.

301
Total Incidents
Building fires 144 47.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 66 21.9%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 29 9.6%
Natural vegetation fire, other 10 3.3%
Fire, other 7 2.3%
All other categories 45 15.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Washington County?

Mar peaks. May dips.

Jan 14
Feb 50
Mar 104
Apr 13
May 1
Jun 14
Jul 15
Aug 29
Sep 18
Oct 12
Nov 22
Dec 9
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Washington County

1,447 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 397
2022 297
2023 235
2024 217
2025 301
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 144 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
33%
7
Cause undetermined
24%
5
Intentional / arson
5%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
5%
1
Under investigation
19%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
14%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $696K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 Richwoods Building fires Significant
2 $175,000 Richwoods Building fires Significant
3 $100,000 Cadet Building fires Significant
4 $50,000 Richwoods Building fires Significant
5 $50,000 Richwoods Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 Richwoods Building fires Significant
7 $50,000 Richwoods Building fires Significant
8 $15,000 Richwoods Building fires Significant
9 $5,000 Richwoods Forest, woods or wildland fire Significant
10 $500 Richwoods Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
06 How Washington County compares

Washington County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

81.2
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Washington County
81.2
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
38.85
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Washington County
38.85
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Washington County
0
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Washington County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29221.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Washington County

1 departments report from this county.

Irondale Fire Prot Dist
Irondale
FDID 11101 0 incidents 32 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.