In 2025, fire departments across Kansas responded to 23,944 fire and hazmat incidents — including the ANNUAL BUR wildfire that burned 60,039 acres in 1998.
Kansas ranks #23 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 49% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Mar peaks across the window; Nov dips.
145,042 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 27,300 | |
| 2022 | 32,083 | |
| 2023 | 29,545 | |
| 2024 | 32,170 | |
| 2025 | 23,944 |
For the 2,443 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Combined NFIRS + FPA-FOD totals across the available reporting window. Click a cause to see how it plays out nationwide.
| # | Cause | Incidents | FOD vs NFIRS | Acres | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined / missing | 18,761 | 7,706 / 11,055 | 1,058,780 | |
| 2 | Arson / incendiarism | 6,583 | 1,206 / 5,377 | 36,209 | |
| 3 | Debris & open burning | 5,857 | 5,857 / 0 | 181,679 | |
| 4 | Equipment & vehicle use | 5,277 | 1,552 / 3,725 | 52,867 | |
| 5 | Natural (lightning) | 1,855 | 395 / 1,460 | 21,388 | |
| 6 | Other causes | 955 | 116 / 839 | 2,633 | |
| 7 | Smoking | 796 | 796 / 0 | 8,612 | |
| 8 | Recreation & ceremony | 274 | 274 / 0 | 4,917 | |
| 9 | Power generation / utility | 266 | 266 / 0 | 26,142 | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 259 | 259 / 0 | 801 | |
| 11 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 146 | 146 / 0 | 2,831 | |
| 12 | Railroad operations | 2 | 2 / 0 | 2 |
Topical groupings of NFIRS incident types — building, cooking, electrical, vehicle, and more. Each links to its national rollup.
| # | Topic | Incidents | Loss | Deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outdoor fires | 45,368 | $17.1M | 3 | |
| 2 | Wildland fires | 30,295 | $16.5M | 3 | |
| 3 | Building fires | 21,502 | $327.8M | 103 | |
| 4 | Gas leaks | 20,430 | $199K | 0 | |
| 5 | Electrical / wiring | 17,538 | $507K | 0 | |
| 6 | Rubbish / refuse | 9,105 | $1.0M | 0 | |
| 7 | Vehicle fires | 8,929 | $86.2M | 26 | |
| 8 | Cooking-related | 2,998 | $333K | 0 | |
| 9 | Arson | 1,631 | $4.3M | 0 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 16% of Kansas's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $4,000,000 | Johnson County | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major |
| 2 | $2,000,000 | Hesston | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $1,000,000 | Pratt | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major |
| 4 | $1,000,000 | KANSAS CITY | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $693,384 | Overland Park | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $652,408 | Overland Park | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $580,000 | LEAVENWORTH | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $556,300 | KANSAS CITY | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $500,000 | Andover | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $500,000 | Mission | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare Kansas apples-to-apples to the national average.
12 largest reporting cities by population.
Top 10 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.
| # | County | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sedgwick County | 3,627 | 493,220 |
| 2 | Johnson County | 3,500 | 599,536 |
| 3 | Shawnee County | 1,172 | 130,832 |
| 4 | Wyandotte County | 1,168 | 167,952 |
| 5 | Finney County | 862 | 30,328 |
| 6 | Ford County | 844 | 30,760 |
| 7 | Douglas County | 811 | 106,837 |
| 8 | Ellis County | 811 | 24,771 |
| 9 | Leavenworth County | 779 | 61,555 |
| 10 | Butler County | 673 | 48,917 |
Top 7 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.
| # | County | Inc / 1k | Incidents | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leavenworth County | 12.66 | 779 | 61,555 | |
| 2 | Shawnee County | 8.96 | 1,172 | 130,832 | |
| 3 | Douglas County | 7.59 | 811 | 106,837 | |
| 4 | Sedgwick County | 7.35 | 3,627 | 493,220 | |
| 5 | Wyandotte County | 6.95 | 1,168 | 167,952 | |
| 6 | Riley County | 6.20 | 412 | 66,405 | |
| 7 | Johnson County | 5.84 | 3,500 | 599,536 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
167 perimeters and 118,118 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 1 | 60,039 | |
| 2000s | 3 | 2,414 | |
| 2010s | 113 | 45,291 | |
| 2020s | 50 | 10,374 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by decade, broken down by cause category. Each row sums to the decade's total; the bars show the share each cause contributed.
| Decade | Total fires | Share by cause |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 226 | |
| 2000s | 1,322 | |
| 2010s | 16,048 | |
| 2020s | 980 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 18,576 ignitions total.
971 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 5-year window. Age and gender are coarse-binned for privacy.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 17 | |
| 10-19 | 31 | |
| 20-29 | 175 | |
| 30-39 | 191 | |
| 40-49 | 148 | |
| 50-59 | 108 | |
| 60-69 | 72 | |
| 70-79 | 38 | |
| 80+ | 23 |
State totals reflect incidents reported by fire departments to NFIRS for 2025. The 5-year totals span 2021 through 2025. Wildfire perimeters and decade-by-decade counts are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History service. NFIRS reporting is voluntary, so totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.