Home› Counties› IA› Delaware County
2025 County Report

Fires in Delaware County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Delaware County responded to 166 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss.

9,454 residents FIPS 19055 23 cities · 11 fire depts
Total incidents
166
527 across 5 years
Building fires
12
71 wildland
Property loss
$282K
$227K structure · $55K 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 57% of all calls.

166
Total Incidents
Grass fire 47 28.3%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 16 9.6%
Building fires 12 7.2%
Cultivated grain or crop fire 10 6.0%
Passenger vehicle fire 9 5.4%
All other categories 72 43.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Delaware County?

Mar peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 22
Feb 18
Mar 46
Apr 26
May 6
Jun 12
Jul 1
Aug 0
Sep 10
Oct 19
Nov 4
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Delaware County

527 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 61
2022 90
2023 93
2024 117
2025 166
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 12 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
68%
32
Cause undetermined
9%
4
Intentional / arson
2%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
17%
8
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $223K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Delaware County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 98% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 City of Delhi Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
2 $33,000 City of Manchester Cultivated grain or crop fire Significant
3 $25,000 City of Manchester Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
4 $20,000 City of Delhi Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $10,000 City of Greeley Building fires Significant
6 $10,000 City of Hopkinton Building fires Significant
7 $8,000 City of Greeley Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $7,000 City of Hopkinton Outside storage fire Significant
9 $5,000 City of Greeley Building fires Significant
10 $5,000 City of Ryan Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Delaware County compares

Delaware County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

17.56
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Delaware County
17.56
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
1.27
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Delaware County
1.27
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Delaware County
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Delaware County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19055.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Delaware County

11 departments report from this county.

MANCHESTER FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 28009 40 incidents
DELHI FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 28003 18 incidents
RYAN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 28012 18 incidents
HOPKINTON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 28008 17 incidents
EARLVILLE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 28005 15 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.