In 2025, fire departments serving Ottumwa responded to 399 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $175K 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 59% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,611 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $6.9M cumulative property loss. 6 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 291 | — | |
| 2022 | 281 | -3.4% | |
| 2023 | 262 | -6.8% | |
| 2024 | 378 | +44.3% | |
| 2025 | 399 | +5.6% |
For the 61 building fires Ottumwa departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 412 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 | 113 | 27.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 46 | 11.2% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 37 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 25 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 16 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 14 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 14 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 13 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 13 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 10 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 111 | 26.9% |
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 Ottumwa mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 218 | 52.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 29 | 7.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 25 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 17 | 4.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 16 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 13 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 8 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Match | 7 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 53 | 12.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ottumwa departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 64% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $98,420 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $95,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $80,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ottumwa sits above 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,892 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 9.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 454 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 340 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 16.7 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 | 52501 | 1,611 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Ottumwa. 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.