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2025 County Report

Fires in Wright County, MO

In 2025, fire departments serving Wright County responded to 37 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

7,427 residents FIPS 29229 29 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
37
407 across 5 years
Building fires
8
19 wildland
Property loss
$371K
$296K structure · $75K 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 73% of all calls.

37
Total Incidents
Building fires 8 21.6%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 6 16.2%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 5 13.5%
Grass fire 5 13.5%
Natural vegetation fire, other 3 8.1%
All other categories 10 27.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Wright County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 5
Feb 4
Mar 11
Apr 1
May 2
Jun 2
Jul 1
Aug 1
Sep 2
Oct 3
Nov 0
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Wright County

407 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 97
2022 126
2023 118
2024 29
2025 37
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 8 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
44%
7
Cause undetermined
12%
2
Intentional / arson
19%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
2
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
13%
2
05 The biggest fires

5 fires · $296K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Wright County during 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 Hartville Building fires Major
2 $25,000 NORWOOD Building fires Significant
3 $20,000 Grovespring Grass fire Significant
4 $1,000 Mountain Grove Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $100 Mountain Grove Natural vegetation fire, other Significant
06 How Wright County compares

Wright County vs MO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.98
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Wright County
4.98
MO avg
12.53
US avg
7.15
1.08
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Wright County
1.08
MO avg
1.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Wright County
0
MO avg
9.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Wright County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 29229.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Wright County

4 departments report from this county.

Grovespring Area Vol Fire Prot Assn
Grovespring
FDID 11504 33 incidents 26 vol
Norwood Comm Fire Dept
Norwood
FDID 11503 3 incidents 29 vol
Mountain Grove Fire Dept
Mtn Grove
FDID 11501 1 incidents 5 paid
Hartville Rural Fire Prot Assn Inc
Hartville
FDID 11506 0 incidents 20 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.