In 2025, fire departments serving Altoona responded to 89 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $25K 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 54% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
524 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.1M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 75 | — | |
| 2022 | 88 | +17.3% | |
| 2023 | 130 | +47.7% | |
| 2024 | 142 | +9.2% | |
| 2025 | 89 | -37.3% |
For the 20 building fires Altoona departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 99 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 | 14 | 14.1% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Wall surface: exterior | 7 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 7 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 6 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 5 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Other | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 36 | 36.4% |
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 Altoona mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 25 | 25.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 11 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 6.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 5 | 5.1% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 5.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Altoona departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Altoona sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
6 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,492 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 | 10.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 346 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 320 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 48.3 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Altoona. 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.