In 2025, fire departments serving Onawa responded to 22 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 77% of all calls.
Apr peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
106 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $127K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 18 | — | |
| 2022 | 23 | +27.8% | |
| 2023 | 21 | -8.7% | |
| 2024 | 22 | +4.8% | |
| 2025 | 22 | +0.0% |
For the 0 building fires Onawa departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 51 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 | 15 | 29.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 15.7% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 15.7% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 13.7% |
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 Onawa mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 17.6% | |
| 2 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 8 | 15.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Molten, hot material | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Warning or road flare; fusee | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 21.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Onawa departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $27,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Onawa sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,133 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1,100 | 6.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Smoking | 800 | 15.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 715 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Fireworks | 680 | 17.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 650 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 35.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 582 | 15.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 560 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 15.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 480 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 480 | 6.5 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 | 51040 | 106 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Onawa. 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.