In 2025, fire departments serving Earlville responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents . 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. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
45 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $10K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022* | 3 | — | |
| 2023 | 12 | — | |
| 2024 | 14 | +16.7% | |
| 2025 | 14 | +0.0% |
* Well below Earlville'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 0 building fires Earlville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 16 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 | 3 | 18.8% | |
| 2 | Storage area, other | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 9 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 12.5% |
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 Earlville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 6.2% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Earlville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,646 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 189 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 120 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 38.6 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 | 52041 | 45 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Earlville. 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.