In 2025, fire departments serving Marcus responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 81% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
43 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $810K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022* | 2 | — | |
| 2023 | 14 | — | |
| 2024 | 8 | -42.9% | |
| 2025 | 16 | +100.0% |
* Well below Marcus'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 Marcus departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Machinery room or area; elevator machinery room | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Multiple areas | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Marcus mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Match | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 10 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Marcus departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Marcus sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,994 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 560 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 250 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 220 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 214 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 0.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 40.1 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 | 51035 | 43 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Marcus. 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.