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2025 County Report

Fires in Boone County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Boone County responded to 239 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $750K property loss.

17,796 residents FIPS 19015 20 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
239
1,123 across 5 years
Building fires
27
36 wildland
Property loss
$1.3M
$1.1M structure · $130K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Unauthorized burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.

239
Total Incidents
Unauthorized burning 45 18.8%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 38 15.9%
Building fires 27 11.3%
Authorized controlled burning 21 8.8%
Grass fire 19 7.9%
All other categories 89 37.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Boone County?

Mar peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 6
Feb 7
Mar 37
Apr 27
May 32
Jun 10
Jul 15
Aug 23
Sep 22
Oct 23
Nov 22
Dec 15
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Boone County

1,123 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 144
2022 193
2023 242
2024 305
2025 239
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 27 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
40%
19
Cause undetermined
19%
9
Intentional / arson
6%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
21%
10
Under investigation
9%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Boone County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 95% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $750,000 City of Ogden Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
2 $85,000 City of Ogden Building fires Significant
3 $80,000 City of Ogden Building fires Significant
4 $60,000 Boone Outside gas or vapor combustion explosion Significant
5 $30,000 Boone Building fires Significant
6 $30,000 City of Ogden Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
7 $15,500 Boone Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $15,000 Boone Building fires Significant
9 $15,000 City of Ogden Building fires Significant
10 $15,000 City of Ogden Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
06 How Boone County compares

Boone County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.43
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Boone County
13.43
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
1.52
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Boone County
1.52
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Boone County
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Boone County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19015.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Boone County

6 departments report from this county.

BOONE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 08003 171 incidents
OGDEN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 08008 49 incidents
MADRID FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 08007 11 incidents
BEAVER FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 08001 0 incidents
BOXHOLM FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 08004 0 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.