In 2025, fire departments serving Grinnell responded to 131 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 40% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
538 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 92 | — | |
| 2022 | 114 | +23.9% | |
| 2023 | 85 | -25.4% | |
| 2024 | 116 | +36.5% | |
| 2025 | 131 | +12.9% |
For the 7 building fires Grinnell departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 123 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 | 20 | 16.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 14 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 7 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 7 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 38 | 30.9% |
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 Grinnell mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 34 | 27.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 17 | 13.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 15 | 12.2% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 19 | 15.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Grinnell departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $55,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $13,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $4,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $3,500 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Grinnell sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,550 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 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 824 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 402 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 18.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 316 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 21.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 228 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 17.1 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 | 50112 | 538 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Grinnell. 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.