In 2025, fire departments serving Winterset responded to 72 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $110K 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 74% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
216 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $976K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 46 | — | |
| 2023* | 16 | — | |
| 2024 | 66 | — | |
| 2025 | 72 | +9.1% |
* Well below Winterset'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 Winterset departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 74 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 | 35 | 47.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 12 | 16.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 12.2% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 8 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 4.1% |
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 Winterset mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 46 | 62.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 6.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 5 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 4.1% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 6 | Match | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 8.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Winterset departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $110,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $80,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Winterset sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,736 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 800 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 346 | 15.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 320 | 14.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 21.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 39.0 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 | 50273 | 216 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Winterset. 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.