In 2025, fire departments serving Burlington responded to 279 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $130K 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 62% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,542 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $4.4M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 248 | — | |
| 2022 | 348 | +40.3% | |
| 2023 | 313 | -10.1% | |
| 2024 | 354 | +13.1% | |
| 2025 | 279 | -21.2% |
For the 53 building fires Burlington departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 468 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 74 | 15.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 51 | 10.9% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 39 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 22 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 21 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 21 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 17 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 16 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 16 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 13 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 178 | 38.0% |
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 Burlington mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 207 | 44.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 70 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 33 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 20 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 18 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 16 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 13 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 13 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 9 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 52 | 11.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Burlington departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 74% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $130,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $73,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $71,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $54,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Burlington sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
18 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 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,686 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,200 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 832 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 630 | 31.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 333 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 282 | 31.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 280 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 232 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 180 | 5.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 174 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Smoking | 150 | 41.4 mi |
Top 3 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 Burlington. 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.