In 2025, fire departments serving Iberia responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 89% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
47 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $702K cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 6 | — | |
| 2022 | 6 | +0.0% | |
| 2023 | 12 | +100.0% | |
| 2024* | 4 | — | |
| 2025 | 19 | — |
* Well below Iberia'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 7 building fires Iberia 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 43.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 5 | 31.2% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Wall assembly | 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 Iberia mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15 | 93.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 1 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Iberia departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $70,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $60,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $14,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $7,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Iberia sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 27,409 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,500 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,855 | 36.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 2,245 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,160 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,249 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,212 | 25.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 1,049 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,027 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,005 | 47.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 943 | 39.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 844 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 789 | 22.6 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 | 65486 | 47 |
Six Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Iberia. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Iberia.
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.