In 2025, fire departments serving Northwood responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Natural vegetation fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
58 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $436K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022* | 4 | — | |
| 2023 | 7 | — | |
| 2024 | 31 | +342.9% | |
| 2025 | 15 | -51.6% |
* Well below Northwood'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 Northwood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | 9 | 45.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Interior stairway or ramp | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Assembly area - less than 100 persons | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 5.0% |
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 Northwood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Northwood departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $37,800 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Northwood sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,717 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 10.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 177 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 1.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 85 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 65 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 55 | 48.4 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 | 50459 | 58 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Northwood. 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.