In 2025, fire departments serving Black Hawk County responded to 902 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $725K property loss.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips.
3,686 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 504 | |
| 2022 | 477 | |
| 2023 | 767 | |
| 2024 | 1,036 | |
| 2025 | 902 |
For the 92 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Black Hawk County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 65% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $725,000 | Cedar Falls | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $350,000 | Cedar Falls | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $153,390 | Waterloo | Outside gas or vapor combustion explosion | Significant |
| 4 | $100,000 | Cedar Falls | Building fires | Significant |
| 5 | $100,000 | Waterloo | Building fires | Significant |
| 6 | $97,000 | Waterloo | Building fires | Significant |
| 7 | $75,000 | Cedar Falls | Building fires | Significant |
| 8 | $65,000 | Waterloo | Building fires | Significant |
| 9 | $60,000 | City of Dunkerton | Building fires | Significant |
| 10 | $60,000 | Waterloo | Building fires | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 19013.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Waterloo | 67,256 | View › |
| Cedar Falls | 40,686 | View › |
| Evansdale | 4,561 | View › |
| Hudson | 2,557 | View › |
| La Porte City | 2,347 | View › |
| Elk Run Heights | 886 | View › |
| Dunkerton | 860 | View › |
| Raymond | 810 | View › |
| Gilbertville | 770 | View › |
| Washburn | 594 | View › |
| Armour | 0 | View › |
| Eagle Center | 0 | View › |
8 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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.