In 2025, fire departments serving Hinton responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 82% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
54 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $489K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 5 | — | |
| 2023* | 1 | — | |
| 2024 | 20 | — | |
| 2025 | 28 | +40.0% |
* Well below Hinton'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 5 building fires Hinton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 14 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 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Service facilities, other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 10 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 1 | 7.1% |
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 Hinton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 6 | Candle | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 7.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hinton departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $90,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hinton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,299 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1,100 | 40.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Smoking | 800 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Fireworks | 680 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 650 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 48.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 582 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 560 | 21.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 480 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 480 | 44.4 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 | 51024 | 54 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Hinton. 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.