In 2025, fire departments serving Tiffin responded to 48 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $22K 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 48% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
184 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $509K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 34 | — | |
| 2023 | 55 | +61.8% | |
| 2024 | 43 | -21.8% | |
| 2025 | 48 | +11.6% |
* Well below Tiffin'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 5 building fires Tiffin departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 51 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 | 13 | 25.5% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 21.6% | |
| 3 | Other | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Entrance way, lobby | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 17.6% |
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 Tiffin mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 27.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 14 | 27.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 13.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Candle | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 9.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Tiffin departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $22,490 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $7,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100 | Arcing, shorted electrical equipment | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tiffin sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,830 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,200 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 832 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 824 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 630 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 402 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 316 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 282 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 42.0 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Tiffin. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Tiffin.
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.