In 2025, fire departments serving Eagle Grove responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
91 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $862K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 10 | — | |
| 2022 | 21 | — | |
| 2023 | 22 | +4.8% | |
| 2024 | 15 | -31.8% | |
| 2025 | 23 | +53.3% |
* Well below Eagle Grove'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 1 building fires Eagle Grove departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 32 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 | 16 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 4 | Function area, other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 9.4% |
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 Eagle Grove mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 16 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Match | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Candle | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Eagle Grove departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Eagle Grove sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,917 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 401 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 23.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 100 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 90 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 85 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 47.6 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 | 50533 | 91 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Eagle Grove. 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.