In 2025, fire departments serving Audubon responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $85K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 81% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
95 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 9 | — | |
| 2022 | 30 | — | |
| 2023 | 19 | -36.7% | |
| 2024 | 16 | -15.8% | |
| 2025 | 21 | +31.2% |
* Well below Audubon'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 0 building fires Audubon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 49 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 | 21 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 18.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 6.1% |
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 Audubon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 27 | 55.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 6 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 1 | 2.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Audubon departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $85,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Cultivated grain or crop fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Audubon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,893 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 340 | 15.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 328 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 130 | 16.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 10.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 120 | 20.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 115 | 19.0 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 | 50025 | 95 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Audubon. 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.