In 2025, fire departments serving Columbus Junction responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1 building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 89% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
121 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $18K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 24 | — | |
| 2023 | 22 | -8.3% | |
| 2024 | 36 | +63.6% | |
| 2025 | 28 | -22.2% |
* Well below Columbus Junction'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 6 building fires Columbus Junction departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 41 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 14.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 5 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Other | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 9 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 29.3% |
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 Columbus Junction mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 24.4% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 19.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 5 | 12.2% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 4 | 9.8% | |
| 5 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 4 | 9.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 4.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Columbus Junction departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Columbus Junction sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,534 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 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,200 | 14.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 832 | 14.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 14.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 630 | 14.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 22.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 333 | 17.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 282 | 14.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 232 | 14.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 180 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 174 | 14.1 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 | 52738 | 121 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Columbus Junction. 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.