In 2025, fire departments serving West Des Moines responded to 268 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $22K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.
May peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,692 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $4.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 375 | — | |
| 2022 | 318 | -15.2% | |
| 2023 | 402 | +26.4% | |
| 2024 | 329 | -18.2% | |
| 2025 | 268 | -18.5% |
For the 5 building fires West Des Moines departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 533 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 113 | 21.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 73 | 13.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 64 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 59 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 32 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 29 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 22 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 15 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 12 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 11 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 103 | 19.3% |
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 West Des Moines mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 172 | 32.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 82 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 49 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 36 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 25 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 21 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 21 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 18 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 17 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 17 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 75 | 14.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by West Des Moines departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $21,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $13,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Gasoline or other flammable liquid spill | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $9,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $4,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. West Des Moines sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
12 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,106 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 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 346 | 22.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 320 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 41.1 mi |
Top 7 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 West Des Moines. 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.