In 2025, fire departments serving Lake View responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
32 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $150K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 3 | — | |
| 2023 | 5 | — | |
| 2024 | 7 | +40.0% | |
| 2025 | 17 | +142.9% |
* Well below Lake View'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 3 building fires Lake View departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 9 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 | Undetermined | 6 | 66.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 1 | 11.1% |
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 View mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 66.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 11.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lake View departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lake View sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,088 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 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 340 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 328 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 220 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 130 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 14.9 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 | 51450 | 32 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Lake View. 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.