In 2025, fire departments serving West Liberty responded to 29 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K 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 62% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
132 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $371K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 21 | — | |
| 2022 | 26 | +23.8% | |
| 2023 | 19 | -26.9% | |
| 2024 | 37 | +94.7% | |
| 2025 | 29 | -21.6% |
For the 3 building fires West Liberty departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 54 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 | 14 | 25.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 5 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Structural area, other | 4 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Equipment or service area, other | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Office | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 18.5% |
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 West Liberty mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 19 | 35.2% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 7 | 13.0% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 9.3% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 7.4% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Match | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 1.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by West Liberty departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. West Liberty sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,768 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1,500 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,200 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 832 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 824 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 820 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 630 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 4.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 333 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 282 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 232 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 228 | 48.2 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 | 52776 | 132 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of West Liberty. 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.