In 2025, fire departments serving Hospers responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K 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 71% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
63 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $167K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022* | 7 | — | |
| 2023* | 6 | — | |
| 2024 | 25 | — | |
| 2025 | 21 | -16.0% |
* Well below Hospers'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 3 building fires Hospers departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | 6 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Wall assembly | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Hospers mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hospers departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hospers sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,160 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 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 23.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 250 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 226 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 215 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 214 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 39.0 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 | 51238 | 63 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Hospers. 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.