In 2025, fire departments serving Gladbrook responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K 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 74% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
32 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $762K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023* | 0 | — | |
| 2024 | 13 | — | |
| 2025 | 19 | +46.2% |
* Well below Gladbrook'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 Gladbrook departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Exterior, exposed surface | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 5.6% |
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 Gladbrook mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 38.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Gladbrook departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gladbrook sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,505 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 824 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 402 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 13.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 316 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 23.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 228 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 14.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 34.6 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 | 50635 | 32 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Gladbrook. 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.