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2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in Durant, Iowa

In 2025, fire departments serving Durant responded to 30 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade B+ Peak yr 2025 Cedar County 1,902 residents 0 reporting departments 99 5-yr
Total incidents
30
+25.0% vs 2024
Building fires
6
Residential 67% Other 33%
Property loss
$251K
$250K structure · $500 contents
Deaths & injuries
0 / 0
0 civilian deaths · 0 civ injuries · 0 firefighter injuries
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.

30
Total Incidents
Building fires 6 20.0%
Grass fire 4 13.3%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 3 10.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 3 10.0%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 3 10.0%
All other categories 11 36.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

Apr peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.

Jan 2
Feb 2
Mar 7
Apr 9
May 1
Jun 2
Jul 0
Aug 1
Sep 1
Oct 3
Nov 1
Dec 1
Fewer
More
2b Five-year trend

Year over year in Durant

99 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $351K cumulative property loss.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021* 11 —
2022 20 —
2023 14 -30.0%
2024 24 +71.4%
2025 30 +25.0%

* Well below Durant'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.

03 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 6 building fires Durant departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
61%
11
Cause undetermined
11%
2
Intentional / arson
6%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
1
Under investigation
17%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in Durant?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 48 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 originCountShare 
1 Undetermined 27 56.2%
2 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 8 16.7%
3 Storage room, area, tank, or bin 5 10.4%
4 Highway, parking lot, street: on or near 4 8.3%
5 Open area - outside; included are farmland, field 3 6.2%
6 Roof surface: exterior 1 2.1%
3c What ignited it

What actually ignited the fire?

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 Durant mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 35 72.9%
2 Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment 3 6.2%
3 Hot or smoldering object, other 3 6.2%
4 Cigarette lighter 2 4.2%
5 Hot ember or ash 1 2.1%
6 Heat from other open flame or smoking materials 1 2.1%
7 Chemical reaction 1 2.1%
8 Heat spread from another fire, other 1 2.1%
9 Flying brand, ember, spark 1 2.1%
04 The biggest fires

1 fires · $250K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses reported by Durant departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.

# Property loss Type Severity Status
1 $250,000 Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major Investigated
05 How Durant compares

Durant vs Iowa vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Durant sits above the national average for incidents per resident.

15.77
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Durant
15.77
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.48
3.15
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Durant
3.15
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.85
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Durant
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.9
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of Durant

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,016 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.

50 mi radius
YearCauseAcresDistance 
2015 Debris and open burning 1,500 17.3 mi
2003 Recreation and ceremony 1,200 25.5 mi
2000 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 832 25.5 mi
2003 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 820 25.5 mi
2015 Debris and open burning 640 21.2 mi
2003 Arson/incendiarism 630 25.5 mi
2012 Debris and open burning 400 22.4 mi
1996 Debris and open burning 333 34.9 mi
2000 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 282 25.5 mi
2014 Recreation and ceremony 265 48.2 mi
2000 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 232 25.5 mi
2011 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 200 26.8 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in Durant do fires concentrate?

Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.

#ZIP5-yr incidents 
1 52747 99
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to Durant

Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Durant. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.

07 Stay prepared

Before the next Red Flag day.

A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.

About this data

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.