In 2025, fire departments serving Cedar Falls responded to 245 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $725K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
656 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 9 | — | |
| 2022* | 3 | — | |
| 2023 | 166 | — | |
| 2024 | 233 | +40.4% | |
| 2025 | 245 | +5.2% |
* Well below Cedar Falls'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 12 building fires Cedar Falls departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 111 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 | 20 | 18.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 12 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 11 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Other | 5 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 5 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 35 | 31.5% |
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 Cedar Falls mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 35 | 31.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 19 | 17.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 10 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 9 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 9.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cedar Falls departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $725,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cedar Falls sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,714 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 750 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 402 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 316 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 175 | 39.6 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 Cedar Falls. 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.