In 2025, fire departments serving Iowa Falls responded to 71 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
Jul peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
264 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 53 | — | |
| 2022* | 14 | — | |
| 2023 | 55 | — | |
| 2024 | 71 | +29.1% | |
| 2025 | 71 | +0.0% |
* Well below Iowa Falls'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 8 building fires Iowa Falls departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 49 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 | 10 | 20.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 16.3% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 4 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 24.5% |
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 Iowa Falls mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 22 | 44.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 8.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 12.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Iowa Falls departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Iowa Falls sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,037 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 750 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 28.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 100 | 32.1 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 | 50126 | 264 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Iowa Falls. 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.