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2025 County Report

Fires in Wayne County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving Wayne County responded to 75 fire and hazmat incidents. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

3,575 residents FIPS 29223 27 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
75
455 across 5 years
Building fires
13
34 wildland
Property loss
$0
$0 structure · $0 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 71% of all calls.

75
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 14 18.7%
Building fires 13 17.3%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 11 14.7%
Passenger vehicle fire 9 12.0%
Grass fire 6 8.0%
All other categories 22 29.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Wayne County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 10
Feb 6
Mar 31
Apr 6
May 3
Jun 5
Jul 1
Aug 3
Sep 4
Oct 5
Nov 1
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Wayne County

455 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 115
2022 104
2023 95
2024 66
2025 75
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 13 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
22%
6
Cause undetermined
56%
15
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
3
Under investigation
7%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
1
06 How Wayne County compares

Wayne County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

20.98
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Wayne County
20.98
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
3.64
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Wayne County
3.64
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Wayne County
0
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Wayne County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29223.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Wayne County

4 departments report from this county.

Clearwater Fire Prot Dist
Piedmont
FDID 11201 57 incidents 1 paid 22 vol
Wappapello Vol Fire Dept
Wappapello
FDID 11209 5 incidents 30 vol
Lowndes Vol Fire Rescue Dept Inc
LOWNDES
FDID 11208 2 incidents 12 vol
Cascade Vol Fire Dept
Silva
FDID 11206 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.