In 2025, fire departments serving Farmington responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
41 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $217K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 6 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023 | 11 | — | |
| 2024 | 13 | +18.2% | |
| 2025 | 10 | -23.1% |
* Well below Farmington'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 4 building fires Farmington departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 12 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 | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 8.3% |
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 Farmington mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Incendiary device | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Farmington departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Farmington sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,347 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 454 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 340 | 41.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 333 | 46.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 280 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 10.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 196 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 180 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 180 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 170 | 37.9 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 | 52626 | 41 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Farmington. 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.