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2025 County Report

Fires in Bremer County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Bremer County responded to 100 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $25K property loss.

18,175 residents FIPS 19017 14 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
100
414 across 5 years
Building fires
8
42 wildland
Property loss
$66K
$32K structure · $34K 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 58% of all calls.

100
Total Incidents
Grass fire 31 31.0%
Building fires 8 8.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 7 7.0%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 6 6.0%
Authorized controlled burning 6 6.0%
All other categories 42 42.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Bremer County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 17
Feb 4
Mar 19
Apr 17
May 11
Jun 2
Jul 4
Aug 4
Sep 3
Oct 10
Nov 8
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Bremer County

414 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 73
2022 81
2023 75
2024 85
2025 100
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 8 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
60%
12
Cause undetermined
5%
1
Intentional / arson
10%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
20%
4
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
1
05 The biggest fires

5 fires · $32K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Bremer County during 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $25,000 City of Denver Building fires Significant
2 $7,000 City of Janesville Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
3 $1 City of Tripoli Building fires Significant
4 $1 City of Readlyn Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
5 $1 City of Readlyn Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
06 How Bremer County compares

Bremer County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

5.5
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Bremer County
5.5
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
0.44
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Bremer County
0.44
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Bremer County
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Bremer County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19017.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Bremer County

7 departments report from this county.

JANESVILLE FIRE DEPT
Janesville
FDID 09003 32 incidents 26 vol
DENVER FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 09001 30 incidents
SUMNER FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 09006 27 incidents
READLYN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 09005 18 incidents
FREDERIKA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 09002 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.