In 2025, fire departments serving Fairbank responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 68% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
65 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $324K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022 | 9 | — | |
| 2023 | 11 | +22.2% | |
| 2024 | 17 | +54.5% | |
| 2025 | 25 | +47.1% |
* Well below Fairbank'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 Fairbank departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 22 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 | 4 | 18.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 3 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 13.6% | |
| 4 | Other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 9.1% |
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 Fairbank mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 31.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 13.6% | |
| 4 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Conducted heat from another fire | 1 | 4.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fairbank departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fairbank sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,870 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 750 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 120 | 3.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 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 | 50629 | 65 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Fairbank. 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.