In 2025, fire departments serving Spirit Lake responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K 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 69% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
75 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $559K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 8 | — | |
| 2022 | 14 | — | |
| 2023 | 20 | +42.9% | |
| 2024 | 17 | -15.0% | |
| 2025 | 16 | -5.9% |
* Well below Spirit Lake'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 1 building fires Spirit Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 31 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 | 8 | 25.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 19.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Wall assembly | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 19.4% |
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 Spirit Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 23 | 74.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Lightning | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 3.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Spirit Lake departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Spirit Lake sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,666 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 401 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 226 | 4.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 215 | 3.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 14.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 155 | 6.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 152 | 18.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 145 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 127 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 11.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 100 | 17.9 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 | 51360 | 75 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Spirit Lake. 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.