In 2025, fire departments serving Lovilia responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $55K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 89% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
57 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $65K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 9 | +28.6% | |
| 2024 | 9 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 28 | +211.1% |
* Well below Lovilia'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 2 building fires Lovilia departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 4 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 | 2 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 25.0% |
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 Lovilia mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 2 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 25.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lovilia departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $55,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lovilia sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,180 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 800 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 8.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 15.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 454 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 346 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 340 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 320 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 37.5 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 | 50150 | 57 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Lovilia. 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.