In 2025, fire departments serving Dubuque responded to 534 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $136K 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 50% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,032 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $8.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 584 | — | |
| 2022 | 493 | -15.6% | |
| 2023 | 567 | +15.0% | |
| 2024 | 854 | +50.6% | |
| 2025 | 534 | -37.5% |
For the 32 building fires Dubuque departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 504 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 82 | 16.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 57 | 11.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 44 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 42 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Other | 23 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 21 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 21 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 15 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 14 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 171 | 33.9% |
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 Dubuque mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 151 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 76 | 15.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 39 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 34 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 28 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 28 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 24 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 19 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 16 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 13 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 76 | 15.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dubuque departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 60% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $135,573 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $95,152 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $70,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dubuque sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
42 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 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 8 | |
| 50-59 | 14 | |
| 60-69 | 7 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,287 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 265 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 22.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 189 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 130 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 125 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 100 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 100 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 75 | 27.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 62 | 38.0 mi |
Top 5 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 Dubuque. 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.