In 2025, fire departments serving Clinton responded to 232 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K 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 57% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
747 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $914K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 102 | — | |
| 2023 | 100 | -2.0% | |
| 2024 | 297 | +197.0% | |
| 2025 | 232 | -21.9% |
* Well below Clinton'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 7 building fires Clinton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 107 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 | 23 | 21.5% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 13.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 13.1% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 12 | 11.2% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 5 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Other | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 22 | 20.6% |
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 Clinton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 57 | 53.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 8.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 7 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 6.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Clinton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 86% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $9,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Clinton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
12 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,023 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 | 1,500 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 19.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 265 | 10.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 195 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 100 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 75 | 26.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 44.1 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 Clinton. 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.