In 2025, fire departments serving Indianola responded to 127 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $266K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
778 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.8M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 101 | — | |
| 2022 | 189 | +87.1% | |
| 2023 | 139 | -26.5% | |
| 2024 | 222 | +59.7% | |
| 2025 | 127 | -42.8% |
For the 18 building fires Indianola departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 318 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 | 91 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 32 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 25 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 24 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 20 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 16 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Other | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 6 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 82 | 25.8% |
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 Indianola mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 113 | 35.5% | |
| 2 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 38 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 24 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 23 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 18 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 11 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 10 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 52 | 16.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Indianola departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $266,400 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $9,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Indianola 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,301 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 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 800 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 346 | 14.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 320 | 13.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 30.1 mi |
Top 5 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Indianola. 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.