In 2025, fire departments serving Van Meter responded to 50 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
139 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 16 | — | |
| 2022* | 16 | — | |
| 2023* | 16 | — | |
| 2024 | 41 | — | |
| 2025 | 50 | +22.0% |
* Well below Van Meter'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 Van Meter departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 32 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 | 9 | 28.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 18.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 5 | 15.6% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Multiple areas | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Corridor, mall | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 6.2% |
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 Van Meter mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 14 | 43.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Fireworks | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Van Meter departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Van Meter sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,379 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 346 | 22.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 328 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 320 | 21.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 26.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 115 | 44.4 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 | 50261 | 139 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Van Meter. 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.