In 2025, fire departments serving Shellsburg responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
88 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022 | 14 | — | |
| 2023 | 20 | +42.9% | |
| 2024 | 30 | +50.0% | |
| 2025 | 24 | -20.0% |
* Well below Shellsburg'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 3 building fires Shellsburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 35 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 | 12 | 34.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 17.1% | |
| 3 | Other | 5 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Service facilities, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 8.6% |
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 Shellsburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 37.1% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Shellsburg departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,500 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Shellsburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,905 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 824 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 402 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 316 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 228 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 13.3 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 | 52332 | 88 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Shellsburg. 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.