In 2025, fire departments serving Earlham responded to 45 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
173 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $973K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 19 | — | |
| 2022 | 44 | — | |
| 2023 | 36 | -18.2% | |
| 2024 | 29 | -19.4% | |
| 2025 | 45 | +55.2% |
* Well below Earlham'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 2 building fires Earlham departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 61 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 18 | 29.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 11 | 18.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 14.8% | |
| 4 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 16.4% |
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 Earlham mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 31 | 50.8% | |
| 2 | Heat, spark from friction | 6 | 9.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 6.6% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 6.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Earlham departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Earlham sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,139 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 346 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 328 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 320 | 25.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 18.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 25.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 115 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 110 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 105 | 17.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 34.6 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 | 50072 | 173 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Earlham. 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.