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2025 County Report

Fires in Guthrie County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Guthrie County responded to 91 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $179K property loss.

6,108 residents FIPS 19077 17 cities · 11 fire depts
Total incidents
91
355 across 5 years
Building fires
7
41 wildland
Property loss
$476K
$426K structure · $50K contents
Casualties
1 / 0
1 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 63% of all calls.

91
Total Incidents
Grass fire 31 34.1%
Building fires 7 7.7%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 7 7.7%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 7 7.7%
Road freight or transport vehicle fire 5 5.5%
All other categories 34 37.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Guthrie County?

Apr peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 5
Feb 7
Mar 17
Apr 19
May 10
Jun 2
Jul 7
Aug 3
Sep 10
Oct 8
Nov 1
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Guthrie County

355 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 44
2022 99
2023 44
2024 77
2025 91
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 7 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
62%
18
Cause undetermined
14%
4
Intentional / arson
7%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
2
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
10%
2
05 The biggest fires

9 fires · $426K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Guthrie County during 2025. These 9 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $179,000 Menlo Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
2 $100,000 City of Guthrie Cent Building fires Significant
3 $60,000 City of Menlo Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
4 $30,000 Bagley Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
5 $25,000 City of Guthrie Cent Building fires Significant
6 $20,000 Bagley Building fires Significant
7 $5,000 Bagley Building fires Significant
8 $5,000 Menlo Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $2,000 Menlo Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
06 How Guthrie County compares

Guthrie County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

14.9
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Guthrie County
14.9
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
1.15
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Guthrie County
1.15
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
163.7
Civilian fire deaths per million
Guthrie County
163.7
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Guthrie County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19077.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Guthrie County

11 departments report from this county.

PLEASANT HILL FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 77013 122 incidents
SAYLOR TOWNSHIP FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 77016 102 incidents 20 vol
STUART FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 39008 36 incidents
GUTHRIE CENTER FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 39004 31 incidents
MENLO FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 39006 22 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.