In 2025, fire departments serving Villisca responded to 37 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $120K 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 76% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
66 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $963K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022* | 3 | — | |
| 2023 | 10 | — | |
| 2024 | 13 | +30.0% | |
| 2025 | 37 | +184.6% |
* Well below Villisca'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 Villisca departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | 6 | 35.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Villisca mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 35.3% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Villisca departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $120,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Villisca sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,261 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 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 200 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 200 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 48.6 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 | 50864 | 66 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Villisca. 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.