In 2025, fire departments serving Gilman responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 85% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
77 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $55K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022 | 19 | — | |
| 2023 | 10 | -47.4% | |
| 2024 | 22 | +120.0% | |
| 2025 | 20 | -9.1% |
* Well below Gilman'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 Gilman departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | Outside area, other | 4 | 23.5% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 23.5% | |
| 3 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Construction/renovation area | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Multiple areas | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 10 | Vacant structural area | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Gilman mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 2 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 11.8% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gilman sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,080 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 824 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 402 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 9.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 316 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 23.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 228 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 9.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 47.1 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 | 50106 | 77 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Gilman. 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.