In 2025, fire departments serving Ames responded to 325 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $272K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Chemical hazard (no spill or leak) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 45% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,404 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $6.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 232 | — | |
| 2022 | 259 | +11.6% | |
| 2023 | 244 | -5.8% | |
| 2024 | 344 | +41.0% | |
| 2025 | 325 | -5.5% |
For the 19 building fires Ames departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 242 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 | 47 | 19.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 28 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 20 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 18 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 15 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 12 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 9 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 9 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 68 | 28.1% |
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 Ames mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 104 | 43.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 19 | 7.9% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 18 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 43 | 17.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ames departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 76% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $272,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Vehicle accident, general cleanup | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ames sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
14 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 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 7 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,220 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 | 18.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 105 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 19.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 100 | 8.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 25.7 mi |
Top 7 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 Ames. 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.