In 2025, fire departments serving Boone responded to 170 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
846 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $3.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 121 | — | |
| 2022 | 140 | +15.7% | |
| 2023 | 193 | +37.9% | |
| 2024 | 222 | +15.0% | |
| 2025 | 170 | -23.4% |
For the 14 building fires Boone departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 170 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 | 43 | 25.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 18 | 10.6% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 18 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 9 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 46 | 27.1% |
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 Boone mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 59 | 34.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 19 | 11.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 19 | 11.2% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 17 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 6 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 21 | 12.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Boone departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 86% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Outside gas or vapor combustion explosion | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $9,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Fuel burner/boiler malfunction, fire confined | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Boone sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,003 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 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 328 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 20.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 105 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 100 | 21.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 90 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 85 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 85 | 46.3 mi |
Top 2 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 Boone. 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.