In 2025, fire departments serving Iola responded to 114 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
641 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 30 | — | |
| 2022 | 111 | — | |
| 2023 | 198 | +78.4% | |
| 2024 | 188 | -5.1% | |
| 2025 | 114 | -39.4% |
* Well below Iola'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 Iola departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 102 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 | 25 | 24.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 17 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 13 | 12.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 10.8% | |
| 5 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Other | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 16 | 15.7% |
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 Iola mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 54 | 52.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 8 | 7.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Fireworks | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 10.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Iola departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,950 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Iola sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 93,426 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 23,000 | 39.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,000 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,000 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,000 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,500 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,500 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,500 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,500 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,200 | 16.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,560 | 15.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 36.4 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Kansas cities with population within ±25% of Iola. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Iola.
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.