In 2025, fire departments serving Iota responded to 45 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $700 building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Passenger vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
150 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $837K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 14 | — | |
| 2022 | 24 | — | |
| 2023 | 18 | -25.0% | |
| 2024 | 49 | +172.2% | |
| 2025 | 45 | -8.2% |
* Well below Iota'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 6 building fires Iota departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 51 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 | 13 | 25.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 8 | 15.7% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 7.8% | |
| 7 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 13.7% |
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 Iota mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 23 | 45.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 13 | 25.5% | |
| 3 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 7 | 13.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated heat from another fire | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 2.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Iota departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $700 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $600 | Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Iota sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 35,250 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 | 12,877 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 2,852 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 2,504 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,154 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 2,000 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,178 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,100 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 842 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 836 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 720 | 44.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 700 | 35.9 mi |
Top 7 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Louisiana cities with population within ±25% of Iota. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Iota.
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.