In 2025, fire departments serving Armstrong responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2K 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 86% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
30 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $3K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022 | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 6 | +0.0% | |
| 2024 | 4 | -33.3% | |
| 2025 | 14 | +250.0% |
* Well below Armstrong'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 4 building fires Armstrong departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 11 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 | Undetermined | 4 | 36.4% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 3 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Structural area, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 9.1% |
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 Armstrong mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Armstrong departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,500 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Armstrong sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,611 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 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 401 | 13.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 226 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 215 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 14.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 155 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 152 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 145 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 127 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 100 | 26.8 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 | 50514 | 30 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Armstrong. 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.