In 2025, fire departments serving Odebolt responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
51 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $256K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 5 | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | — | |
| 2023* | 4 | — | |
| 2024 | 14 | — | |
| 2025 | 16 | +14.3% |
* Well below Odebolt'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 Odebolt departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 16 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 31.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - 5+ persons; including barrack/dormitory | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Storage area, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Structural area, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 6.2% |
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 Odebolt mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 9 | Match | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Odebolt departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $200 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Odebolt sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,030 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 11.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 480 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 340 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 340 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 328 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 220 | 16.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 202 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 130 | 36.0 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 | 51458 | 51 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Odebolt. 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.