In 2025, fire departments serving Lake City responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
67 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 7 | — | |
| 2022 | 17 | — | |
| 2023 | 14 | -17.6% | |
| 2024 | 12 | -14.3% | |
| 2025 | 17 | +41.7% |
* Well below Lake City'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 1 building fires Lake City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 53 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 | Vehicle area, other | 11 | 20.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 20.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 20.8% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 3 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Other | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Function area, other | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 9.4% |
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 Lake City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 18.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 13.2% | |
| 3 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 7 | 13.2% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 4 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 7.5% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 3 | 5.7% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 13.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lake City departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $13,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lake City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,034 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 340 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 328 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 220 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 130 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 105 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 10.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 13.9 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 | 51449 | 67 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Lake City. 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.