In 2025, fire departments serving Lisbon responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
80 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 5 | — | |
| 2022* | 9 | — | |
| 2023 | 15 | — | |
| 2024 | 23 | +53.3% | |
| 2025 | 28 | +21.7% |
* Well below Lisbon'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 5 building fires Lisbon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 21 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 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 4 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Storage area, other | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 4.8% |
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 Lisbon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 47.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Lightning | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 4.8% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lisbon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,490 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 | 1,500 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,200 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 832 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 824 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 630 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 402 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 316 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 282 | 48.3 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Lisbon. 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.