In 2025, fire departments serving Princeton responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Passenger vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
69 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $5K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 13 | — | |
| 2022* | 8 | — | |
| 2023 | 10 | — | |
| 2024 | 18 | +80.0% | |
| 2025 | 20 | +11.1% |
* Well below Princeton'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 0 building fires Princeton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | Outside area, other | 5 | 27.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Closet | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Incinerator area | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Structural area, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 16.7% |
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 Princeton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Match | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Candle | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Princeton departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Princeton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,023 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 | 1,500 | 12.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,200 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 832 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 8.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 630 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 282 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 265 | 23.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 232 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 195 | 11.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 174 | 47.7 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 | 52768 | 69 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Princeton. 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.