In 2025, fire departments serving Cascade responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
107 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 19 | — | |
| 2022 | 20 | +5.3% | |
| 2023 | 22 | +10.0% | |
| 2024 | 20 | -9.1% | |
| 2025 | 26 | +30.0% |
For the 2 building fires Cascade departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 40 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 | 29 | 72.5% | |
| 2 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 2.5% |
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 Cascade mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 32 | 80.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cascade departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $7,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cascade sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,088 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 20.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 75 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 65 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 25.3 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 | 52033 | 107 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Cascade. 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.