Home› Counties› IA› Appanoose County
2025 County Report

Fires in Appanoose County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Appanoose County responded to 132 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

7,601 residents FIPS 19007 27 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
132
463 across 5 years
Building fires
25
68 wildland
Property loss
$639K
$456K structure · $183K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Grass fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.

132
Total Incidents
Grass fire 51 38.6%
Building fires 25 18.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 16 12.1%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 9 6.8%
Passenger vehicle fire 5 3.8%
All other categories 26 19.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Appanoose County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 9
Feb 14
Mar 59
Apr 15
May 2
Jun 5
Jul 9
Aug 4
Sep 5
Oct 1
Nov 7
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Appanoose County

463 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 58
2022 78
2023 70
2024 125
2025 132
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 25 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
48%
15
Cause undetermined
16%
5
Intentional / arson
13%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
13%
4
Under investigation
10%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $445K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Appanoose County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 98% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 City of Centerville Building fires Major
2 $50,000 City of Udell Building fires Significant
3 $50,000 City of Centerville Building fires Significant
4 $30,000 City of Moulton Building fires Significant
5 $20,000 City of Moulton Building fires Significant
6 $15,000 City of Moravia Outside equipment fire Significant
7 $10,000 City of Moulton Building fires Significant
8 $10,000 City of Moulton Building fires Significant
9 $5,000 City of Centerville Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
10 $5,000 City of Centerville Building fires Significant
06 How Appanoose County compares

Appanoose County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

17.37
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Appanoose County
17.37
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
3.29
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Appanoose County
3.29
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Appanoose County
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Appanoose County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19007.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Appanoose County

7 departments report from this county.

CENTERVILLE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 04001 49 incidents
MOULTON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 04005 36 incidents
MYSTIC FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 04006 20 incidents
MORAVIA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 04004 11 incidents
CINCINNATI FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 04002 10 incidents
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in IA

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 IAWTR-FY19-RX-Dunbar Slough 2019 FWS 759
2 IANSR-FY19-RX-Highpoint Savanna 2019 FWS 737
3 IANSR-FY19-RX-N. Bison/Henslow hill 2019 FWS 482
4 Upper Iowa River Wildfire 2024 FWS 465
5 Cornland Wildfire 2018 FWS 402
6 Bottoms WF 2021 PRI 353
7 Crane Lake WF 2021 State 349
8 IAWTR-FY19-RX-Union Hills North 2019 FWS 315
9 Schott WF 2018 FWS 314
10 IAWTR-FY19-RX-Errington Marsh 2019 FWS 304

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.