In 2025, fire departments serving Storm Lake responded to 166 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $45K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 74% of all calls.
Apr peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
372 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $348K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 26 | — | |
| 2022 | 67 | — | |
| 2023 | 61 | -9.0% | |
| 2024 | 52 | -14.8% | |
| 2025 | 166 | +219.2% |
* Well below Storm 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 13 building fires Storm Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 75 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 23 | 30.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 14.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 10 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 7 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Other | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 9.3% |
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 Storm Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 31 | 41.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 18.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 9.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Storm Lake departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,500 | Cultivated grain or crop fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Storm Lake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,720 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 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 220 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 155 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 145 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 100 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 47.8 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 | 50588 | 372 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Storm Lake. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Storm Lake.
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.