In 2025, fire departments serving Clarksville responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Natural vegetation fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 79% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
73 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $263K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 9 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | +100.0% | |
| 2023 | 18 | +0.0% | |
| 2024* | 4 | — | |
| 2025 | 24 | — |
* Well below Clarksville'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 5 building fires Clarksville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 38 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 | 21 | 55.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 7 | 18.4% | |
| 3 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Function area, other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 2.6% |
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 Clarksville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 22 | 57.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 5.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Clarksville departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Clarksville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,455 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 | 13.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 11.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 10.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 120 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 90 | 37.2 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 | 50619 | 73 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Clarksville. 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.