In 2025, fire departments serving Anamosa responded to 29 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $350K 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 76% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
64 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $957K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022 | 13 | — | |
| 2023* | 6 | — | |
| 2024 | 16 | — | |
| 2025 | 29 | +81.2% |
* Well below Anamosa'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 6 building fires Anamosa departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 8 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 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 12.5% |
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 Anamosa mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 7 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 12.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Anamosa departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,000 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Anamosa sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,364 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1,500 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 824 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 228 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 23.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 18.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 36.5 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 | 52205 | 64 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Anamosa. 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.