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2025 County Report

Fires in Clayton County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Clayton County responded to 82 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $35K property loss.

9,433 residents FIPS 19043 38 cities · 13 fire depts
Total incidents
82
305 across 5 years
Building fires
10
41 wildland
Property loss
$86K
$58K structure · $28K 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 74% of all calls.

82
Total Incidents
Grass fire 33 40.2%
Building fires 10 12.2%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 7 8.5%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 6 7.3%
Fires in structures other than in a building 5 6.1%
All other categories 21 25.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Clayton County?

Mar peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 11
Feb 1
Mar 22
Apr 17
May 3
Jun 5
Jul 4
Aug 2
Sep 1
Oct 5
Nov 6
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Clayton County

305 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 42
2022 61
2023 78
2024 42
2025 82
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 10 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
41%
7
Cause undetermined
29%
5
Intentional / arson
6%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
18%
3
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
6%
1
05 The biggest fires

3 fires · $58K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Clayton County during 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $35,000 City of Elkader Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
2 $20,000 City of Elkader Building fires Significant
3 $3,000 City of Millville Forest, woods or wildland fire Significant
06 How Clayton County compares

Clayton County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

8.69
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Clayton County
8.69
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
1.06
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Clayton County
1.06
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Clayton County
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Clayton County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19043.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Clayton County

13 departments report from this county.

GUTTENBERG FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 22007 28 incidents
GARNAVILLO FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 22006 20 incidents
ELKADER FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 22002 14 incidents
LUANA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 22009 11 incidents
STRAWBERRY POINT FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 22018 3 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.