In 2025, fire departments serving North Liberty responded to 103 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 47% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
473 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $3.5M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 83 | — | |
| 2022 | 101 | +21.7% | |
| 2023 | 91 | -9.9% | |
| 2024 | 95 | +4.4% | |
| 2025 | 103 | +8.4% |
For the 5 building fires North Liberty departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 155 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 | 29 | 18.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 23 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 21 | 13.5% | |
| 4 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 11 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 11 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 9 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 9 | 5.8% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 5.2% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 28 | 18.1% |
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 North Liberty mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 55 | 35.5% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 9.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 5.8% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 9 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 9 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Fireworks | 7 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 6 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 3.9% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 29 | 18.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by North Liberty departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $24,100 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. North Liberty sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
17 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,830 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,200 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 832 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 824 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 630 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 402 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 16.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 316 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 282 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 43.4 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 North Liberty. 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.