In 2025, fire departments serving Des Moines responded to 227 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 51% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,128 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $7.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 268 | — | |
| 2022 | 209 | -22.0% | |
| 2023 | 240 | +14.8% | |
| 2024 | 184 | -23.3% | |
| 2025 | 227 | +23.4% |
For the 23 building fires Des Moines departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 352 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 | 68 | 19.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 53 | 15.1% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 39 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 29 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 28 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 22 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 11 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 10 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 10 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 73 | 20.7% |
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 Des Moines mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 171 | 48.6% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 37 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 26 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 14 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 14 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 12 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 10 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 32 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Des Moines departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $165,600 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $141,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Des Moines sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,202 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,312 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,243 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,061 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 817 | 44.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 594 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 494 | 12.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 443 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 420 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 359 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 310 | 41.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 294 | 41.1 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Washington cities with population within ±25% of Des Moines. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Des Moines.
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.