In 2025, fire departments serving Cherokee responded to 55 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $115K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
118 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $515K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | — | |
| 2023* | 8 | — | |
| 2024 | 33 | — | |
| 2025 | 55 | +66.7% |
* Well below Cherokee'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 10 building fires Cherokee departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 37 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 | Outside area, other | 6 | 16.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 6 | 16.2% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 13.5% | |
| 4 | Entrance way, lobby | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 10 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 18.9% |
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 Cherokee mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 16 | 43.2% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Fireworks | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 10.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cherokee departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $115,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cherokee sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,439 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 220 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 214 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 13.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 18.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 155 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 145 | 35.4 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 Cherokee. 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.