In 2025, fire departments serving Mount Vernon responded to 29 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K 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 72% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
68 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | — | |
| 2022* | 5 | — | |
| 2023 | 13 | — | |
| 2024 | 10 | -23.1% | |
| 2025 | 29 | +190.0% |
* Well below Mount Vernon'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 Mount Vernon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 8 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 | Outside area, other | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Function area, other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 1 | 12.5% |
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 Vernon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 12.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mount Vernon departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mount Vernon sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,950 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 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,200 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 832 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 824 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 630 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 402 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 22.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 316 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 282 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 47.0 mi |
Top 2 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 Mount Vernon. 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.