In 2025, fire departments serving Sheldon responded to 48 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $120K 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 56% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
163 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022 | 50 | — | |
| 2023 | 21 | -58.0% | |
| 2024 | 42 | +100.0% | |
| 2025 | 48 | +14.3% |
* Well below Sheldon'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 9 building fires Sheldon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 86 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 16.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 12 | 14.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 9 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 7 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 4 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Other | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 22 | 25.6% |
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 Sheldon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 19.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 17 | 19.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 15 | 17.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 7 | 8.1% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 5.8% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 7.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sheldon departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sheldon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,155 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 1,500 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 250 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 226 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 215 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 214 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 33.1 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 | 51201 | 163 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Sheldon. 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.