In 2025, fire departments serving Mount Ayr responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 92% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
36 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $152K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023* | 0 | — | |
| 2024 | 8 | — | |
| 2025 | 26 | +225.0% |
* Well below Mount Ayr'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 8 building fires Mount Ayr departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 11 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 | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Structural area, other | 1 | 9.1% |
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 Mount Ayr mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 5 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mount Ayr departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $4,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,500 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mount Ayr sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,638 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 16.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 800 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 22.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 346 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 327 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 320 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 19.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 48.8 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 | 50854 | 36 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Mount Ayr. 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.