In 2025, fire departments serving Algona responded to 25 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 76% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
42 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $75 cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023* | 0 | — | |
| 2024 | 16 | — | |
| 2025 | 25 | +56.2% |
* Well below Algona'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 5 building fires Algona departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Interior stairway or ramp | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 5.0% |
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 Algona mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 65.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Match | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 5.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Algona sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,005 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 401 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 226 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 145 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 100 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 69 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 35.8 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 | 50511 | 42 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Algona. 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.