In 2025, fire departments serving Oelwein responded to 34 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 88% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
204 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $802K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 58 | — | |
| 2022 | 43 | -25.9% | |
| 2023 | 33 | -23.3% | |
| 2024 | 36 | +9.1% | |
| 2025 | 34 | -5.6% |
For the 12 building fires Oelwein departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 69 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 | 10 | 14.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 8 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 5 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Other | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Function area, other | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 18 | 26.1% |
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 Oelwein mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 24 | 34.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 7 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 4 | 5.8% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Match | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 8.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Oelwein departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $31,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Oelwein sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,090 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 | 750 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 165 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 160 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 120 | 3.7 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 | 50662 | 204 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Oelwein. 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.