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2025 County Report

Fires in Dallas County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Dallas County responded to 507 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.5M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

48,430 residents FIPS 19049 24 cities · 14 fire depts
Total incidents
507
1,903 across 5 years
Building fires
112
116 wildland
Property loss
$13.3M
$9.0M structure · $4.3M contents
Casualties
0 / 2
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.

507
Total Incidents
Building fires 112 22.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 67 13.2%
Grass fire 42 8.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 38 7.5%
Authorized controlled burning 28 5.5%
All other categories 220 43.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Dallas County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 43
Feb 61
Mar 86
Apr 37
May 64
Jun 37
Jul 34
Aug 31
Sep 25
Oct 33
Nov 35
Dec 21
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Dallas County

1,903 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 190
2022 328
2023 397
2024 481
2025 507
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 112 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
66%
81
Cause undetermined
8%
10
Intentional / arson
6%
7
Equipment / heat source failure
15%
19
Under investigation
2%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $6.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Dallas County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 72% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,500,000 City of Perry Building fires Major
2 $1,000,000 City of Van Meter Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
3 $900,000 Waukee Building fires Major
4 $750,000 City of Adel Fires in structures other than in a building Major
5 $550,000 Waukee Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
6 $500,000 City of Perry Building fires Major
7 $400,000 City of Van Meter Building fires Major
8 $300,000 City of Van Meter Building fires Major
9 $280,000 Waukee Building fires Major
10 $250,000 Woodward Building fires Major
06 How Dallas County compares

Dallas County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.47
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Dallas County
10.47
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
2.31
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Dallas County
2.31
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Dallas County
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Dallas County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19049.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Dallas County

14 departments report from this county.

WAUKEE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 25013 174 incidents
VAN METER FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 25012 59 incidents
ADEL FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 25001 55 incidents
PERRY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 25010 50 incidents
DALLAS CENTER FIRE DEPT
Dallas Center
FDID 25003 32 incidents 25 vol
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.