In 2025, fire departments serving Zearing responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.
May peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
34 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $3K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 5 | — | |
| 2022 | 7 | +40.0% | |
| 2023 | 9 | +28.6% | |
| 2024* | 3 | — | |
| 2025 | 10 | — |
* Well below Zearing'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 Zearing departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 9 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 1 | 11.1% |
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 Zearing mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 11.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Zearing departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Zearing sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,103 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 | 26.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 175 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 22.2 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 | 50278 | 34 |
Six Iowa cities with population within ±25% of Zearing. 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.