In 2025, fire departments serving Fairfield responded to 160 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 74% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
627 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $863K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 71 | — | |
| 2022 | 112 | — | |
| 2023 | 127 | +13.4% | |
| 2024 | 157 | +23.6% | |
| 2025 | 160 | +1.9% |
* Well below Fairfield'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 Fairfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 109 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 | 26 | 23.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 21 | 19.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 13 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Egress/exit, other | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 26 | 23.9% |
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 Fairfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 52 | 47.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 6 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 6 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 7.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fairfield departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $12,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $8,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fairfield sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,467 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,200 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 832 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 630 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 454 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 340 | 33.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 333 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 282 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 232 | 48.6 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 | 52556 | 627 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Fairfield. 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.