In 2025, fire departments serving Crescent responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 75% of all calls.
Oct peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
100 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $80K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 20 | +25.0% | |
| 2023 | 22 | +10.0% | |
| 2024 | 22 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 20 | -9.1% |
For the 4 building fires Crescent departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 21 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 | 5 | 23.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 4 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 4.8% |
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 Crescent mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 38.1% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 19.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 4.8% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Crescent sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,529 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 715 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 19.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 480 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 443 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 340 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 340 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 300 | 10.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 260 | 46.2 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 Crescent. 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.