In 2025, fire departments serving Urbana responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $320K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
48 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $725K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 9 | -18.2% | |
| 2023 | 7 | -22.2% | |
| 2024* | 5 | — | |
| 2025 | 16 | — |
* Well below Urbana'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 4 building fires Urbana departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 22 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 | 7 | 31.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 27.3% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 18.2% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Function area, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 4.5% |
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 Urbana mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 17 | 77.3% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Candle | 1 | 4.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Urbana departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $320,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $42,700 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,500 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Urbana sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,655 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 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 402 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 316 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 228 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 8.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 42.9 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 | 52345 | 48 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Urbana. 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.