In 2025, fire departments serving Humeston responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
65 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $300K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022* | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 24 | — | |
| 2024 | 22 | -8.3% | |
| 2025 | 12 | -45.5% |
* Well below Humeston'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 2 building fires Humeston departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 16 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 | Undetermined | 13 | 81.2% | |
| 2 | Closet | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 6.2% |
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 Humeston mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 75.0% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Humeston departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Humeston sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,866 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 11.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 800 | 5.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 21.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 346 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 327 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 320 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 43.0 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 | 50123 | 65 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Humeston. 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.