In 2025, fire departments serving Glenwood responded to 165 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $350K 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 60% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
643 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 62 | — | |
| 2022 | 127 | — | |
| 2023 | 102 | -19.7% | |
| 2024 | 187 | +83.3% | |
| 2025 | 165 | -11.8% |
* Well below Glenwood'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 26 building fires Glenwood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 113 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 | 19 | 16.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 18 | 15.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 10 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Other | 5 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 5 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 5 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 4 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 4 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 31 | 27.4% |
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 Glenwood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 21 | 18.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 15 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 8.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Match | 5 | 4.4% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 4 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 3.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 15.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Glenwood departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $350,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $208,032 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Glenwood sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,377 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 715 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 6.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 443 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 300 | 14.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 240 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Smoking | 220 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 200 | 12.3 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Glenwood. 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.