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2025 County Report

Fires in Butler County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Butler County responded to 127 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss.

9,511 residents FIPS 19023 19 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
127
376 across 5 years
Building fires
16
62 wildland
Property loss
$1.0M
$843K structure · $196K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Grass fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.

127
Total Incidents
Grass fire 27 21.3%
Building fires 16 12.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 15 11.8%
Natural vegetation fire, other 13 10.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 10 7.9%
All other categories 46 36.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Butler County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 19
Feb 10
Mar 28
Apr 16
May 7
Jun 8
Jul 4
Aug 4
Sep 8
Oct 12
Nov 8
Dec 3
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Butler County

376 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 32
2022 68
2023 62
2024 87
2025 127
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 16 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
60%
18
Cause undetermined
13%
4
Intentional / arson
10%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
17%
5
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $840K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Butler County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 City of New Hartford Building fires Major
2 $250,000 New Hartford Building fires Major
3 $30,000 City of Aplington Building fires Significant
4 $15,000 City of Clarksville Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
5 $10,000 City of Clarksville Building fires Significant
6 $10,000 City of Aredale Building fires Significant
7 $10,000 City of Greene Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $5,000 City of Greene Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $5,000 City of Greene Natural vegetation fire, other Significant
10 $5,000 City of Parkersburg Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
06 How Butler County compares

Butler County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.35
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Butler County
13.35
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
1.68
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Butler County
1.68
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Butler County
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Butler County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19023.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Butler County

10 departments report from this county.

GREENE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 12007 28 incidents
CLARKSVILLE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 12005 25 incidents
NEW HARTFORD FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 12008 22 incidents
PARKERSBURG FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 12009 20 incidents
SHELL ROCK FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 12010 20 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.