In 2025, fire departments serving Adair responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
60 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 15 | — | |
| 2022 | 13 | -13.3% | |
| 2023 | 9 | -30.8% | |
| 2024* | 5 | — | |
| 2025 | 18 | — |
* Well below Adair's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 2 building fires Adair departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 21 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 4 | 19.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 1 | 4.8% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Adair mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 4.8% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Adair sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,959 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 346 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 340 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 328 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 320 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 10.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 130 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 29.1 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50002 | 60 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Adair. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.