In 2025, fire departments serving Cedar Rapids responded to 1,020 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $446K 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 45% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,838 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $16.5M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 938 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,038 | +10.7% | |
| 2023 | 902 | -13.1% | |
| 2024 | 940 | +4.2% | |
| 2025 | 1,020 | +8.5% |
For the 103 building fires Cedar Rapids departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,600 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 | 282 | 17.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 246 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 162 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 87 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 80 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Other | 71 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 70 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 51 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 47 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 38 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 466 | 29.1% |
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 Cedar Rapids mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 784 | 49.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 162 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 159 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 61 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 53 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 51 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 42 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 39 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 38 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 35 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 176 | 11.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cedar Rapids departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 41% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $446,400 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $125,548 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $99,756 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $87,822 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $80,254 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $78,417 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cedar Rapids sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
49 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 13 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 12 | |
| 60-69 | 9 | |
| 70-79 | 4 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,329 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 | 824 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 402 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 316 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 228 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 20.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 175 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 41.3 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
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.