In 2025, fire departments serving Adel responded to 93 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $750K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
286 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 21 | — | |
| 2022 | 69 | — | |
| 2023 | 46 | -33.3% | |
| 2024 | 57 | +23.9% | |
| 2025 | 93 | +63.2% |
* Well below Adel'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 17 building fires Adel departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 51 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 | Other | 7 | 13.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 5 | 9.8% | |
| 5 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 4 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 7.8% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 10 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 21.6% |
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 Adel mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 17.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 9 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 8 | 15.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 5 | 9.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Conducted heat from another fire | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 11.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Adel departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $750,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Adel sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,139 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 346 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 328 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 320 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 115 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 110 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 105 | 19.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 43.5 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 | 50003 | 286 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Adel. 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.