In 2025, fire departments serving Exira responded to 12 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 92% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
65 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $298K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | — | |
| 2023* | 4 | — | |
| 2024 | 29 | — | |
| 2025 | 12 | -58.6% |
* Well below Exira'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 Exira departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | 6 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 5.0% |
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 Exira mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 5.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Exira sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,113 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 340 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 328 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 130 | 22.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 120 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 115 | 10.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 110 | 35.9 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 | 50076 | 65 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Exira. 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.