In 2025, fire departments serving Tabor responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 96% of all calls.
Jan peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
54 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $172K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022* | 3 | — | |
| 2023 | 9 | — | |
| 2024 | 17 | +88.9% | |
| 2025 | 23 | +35.3% |
* Well below Tabor'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 8 building fires Tabor departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 29 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 | 11 | 37.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 4 | 13.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Other | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 1 | 3.4% |
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 Tabor mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 34.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 8 | 27.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 3.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Tabor departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $11,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $6,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tabor sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,937 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 15.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 443 | 26.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 300 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 240 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 235 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Smoking | 220 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 200 | 7.2 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 | 51653 | 54 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Tabor. 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.