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2025 County Report

Fires in Wilson County, KS

In 2025, fire departments serving Wilson County responded to 33 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $27K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

5,235 residents FIPS 20205 17 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
33
172 across 5 years
Building fires
7
8 wildland
Property loss
$95K
$62K structure · $33K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Aircraft standby lead by count. Top five categories make up about 79% of all calls.

33
Total Incidents
Aircraft standby 9 27.3%
Building fires 7 21.2%
Grass fire 6 18.2%
Passenger vehicle fire 2 6.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 2 6.1%
All other categories 7 21.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Wilson County?

Feb peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 4
Feb 7
Mar 4
Apr 1
May 4
Jun 2
Jul 4
Aug 2
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Wilson County

172 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 13
2022 18
2023 59
2024 49
2025 33
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 7 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
18%
2
Cause undetermined
82%
9
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

3 fires · $62K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Wilson County during 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $27,000 Neodesha Passenger vehicle fire Significant
2 $25,000 Neodesha Building fires Significant
3 $10,000 NEODESHA Building fires Significant
06 How Wilson County compares

Wilson County vs KS vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.3
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Wilson County
6.3
KS avg
9.66
US avg
7.15
1.34
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Wilson County
1.34
KS avg
0.99
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Wilson County
0
KS avg
8.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Wilson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 20205.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Wilson County

5 departments report from this county.

NEODESHA FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID WL202 28 incidents 8 paid
Wilson County Rural Fire Distr
Fredonia
FDID WL303 5 incidents 25 vol
FREDONIA FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID WL201 0 incidents 1 paid
BUFFALO VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTM
Buffalo
FDID WL304 0 incidents 12 vol
Altonna Fire Dept
Altoona
FDID WL305 0 incidents 1 paid 33 vol
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.