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2025 County Report

Fires in Cedar County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Cedar County responded to 202 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss.

11,457 residents FIPS 19031 19 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
202
718 across 5 years
Building fires
34
55 wildland
Property loss
$1.9M
$1.3M structure · $666K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.

202
Total Incidents
Building fires 34 16.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 29 14.4%
Grass fire 21 10.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 17 8.4%
Authorized controlled burning 16 7.9%
All other categories 85 42.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Cedar County?

Mar peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 9
Feb 6
Mar 55
Apr 50
May 11
Jun 7
Jul 6
Aug 5
Sep 9
Oct 17
Nov 22
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Cedar County

718 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 95
2022 132
2023 120
2024 169
2025 202
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 34 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
68%
48
Cause undetermined
8%
6
Intentional / arson
8%
6
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
8
Under investigation
4%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Cedar County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 99% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 City of Durant Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
2 $250,000 City of Stanwood Building fires Major
3 $250,000 Tipton Building fires Major
4 $140,000 City of Clarence Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Tipton Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
6 $100,000 Tipton Building fires Significant
7 $81,200 Downey Building fires Significant
8 $35,000 City of Clarence Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $30,000 Tipton Building fires Significant
10 $10,000 West Branch Building fires Significant
06 How Cedar County compares

Cedar County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

17.63
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Cedar County
17.63
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
2.97
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Cedar County
2.97
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Cedar County
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Cedar County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19031.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Cedar County

8 departments report from this county.

DURANT FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 16003 44 incidents
TIPTON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 16007 44 incidents
MECHANICSVILLE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 16005 35 incidents
WEST BRANCH FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 16008 32 incidents
CLARENCE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 16002 28 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.