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2025 County Report

Fires in Decatur County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Decatur County responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $600 property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

5,023 residents FIPS 19053 13 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
25
71 across 5 years
Building fires
0
14 wildland
Property loss
$1K
$600 structure · $550 contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.

25
Total Incidents
Forest, woods or wildland fire 4 16.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 4 16.0%
Passenger vehicle fire 3 12.0%
Grass fire 3 12.0%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 2 8.0%
All other categories 9 36.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Decatur County?

Mar peaks. Jul dips.

Jan 4
Feb 2
Mar 6
Apr 4
May 2
Jun 2
Jul 0
Aug 0
Sep 0
Oct 3
Nov 0
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Decatur County

71 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 4
2022 15
2023 7
2024 20
2025 25
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 0 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
11%
1
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
44%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
33%
3
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
12%
1
05 The biggest fires

1 fires · $600 in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Decatur County during 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $600 City of Garden Grove Cultivated vegetation, crop fire, other Significant
06 How Decatur County compares

Decatur County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.98
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Decatur County
4.98
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
0
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Decatur County
0
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Decatur County
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Decatur County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19053.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Decatur County

9 departments report from this county.

GARDEN GROVE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 27002 20 incidents
WELDON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 27009 6 incidents
DAVIS CITY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 27001 0 incidents
GRAND RIVER FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 27003 0 incidents
LAMONI FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 27004 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.