In 2025, fire departments serving Sac City responded to 24 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 75% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
39 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $236K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022* | 2 | — | |
| 2023* | 2 | — | |
| 2024 | 9 | — | |
| 2025 | 24 | +166.7% |
* Well below Sac City'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 7 building fires Sac City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 12 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 | 4 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Storage area, other | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 1 | 8.3% |
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 Sac City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sac City departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sac City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,233 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 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 340 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 328 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 220 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 145 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 130 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 20.8 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 | 50583 | 39 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Sac City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sac City.
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.