In 2025, fire departments serving Britt responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $6K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
68 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $150K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 7 | — | |
| 2022 | 27 | — | |
| 2023* | 5 | — | |
| 2024 | 17 | — | |
| 2025 | 12 | -29.4% |
* Well below Britt'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 Britt departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Structural area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 5.6% |
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 Britt mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 27.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Britt departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $4,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Britt sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,903 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 401 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 177 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 85 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 55 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Smoking | 45 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 41.2 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 | 50423 | 68 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Britt. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Britt.
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.