In 2025, fire departments serving Waterloo responded to 556 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $153K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,656 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $7.5M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 451 | — | |
| 2022 | 427 | -5.3% | |
| 2023 | 521 | +22.0% | |
| 2024 | 701 | +34.5% | |
| 2025 | 556 | -20.7% |
For the 64 building fires Waterloo departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 805 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 | 129 | 16.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 116 | 14.4% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 80 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 50 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 47 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 35 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 33 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 32 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 26 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 19 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 238 | 29.6% |
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 Waterloo mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 443 | 55.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 54 | 6.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 45 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 43 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 41 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 26 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 22 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 17 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 14 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 13 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 87 | 10.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Waterloo departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 49% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $153,390 | Outside gas or vapor combustion explosion | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $97,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $65,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $35,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Waterloo sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,565 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 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 750 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 402 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 360 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 316 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 228 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 23.7 mi |
Top 4 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 Waterloo. 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.