In 2025, fire departments serving Aurelia responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 77% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
21 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $16K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023* | 1 | — | |
| 2024 | 7 | — | |
| 2025 | 13 | +85.7% |
* Well below Aurelia'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 1 building fires Aurelia departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 9 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 1 | 11.1% |
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 Aurelia mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 3 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 11.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Aurelia departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $3,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Aurelia sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,965 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 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 220 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 155 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 145 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 110 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 39.3 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 | 51005 | 21 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Aurelia. 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.