Home› Counties› IA› Hamilton County
2025 County Report

Fires in Hamilton County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Hamilton County responded to 72 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.

10,514 residents FIPS 19079 12 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
72
594 across 5 years
Building fires
10
26 wildland
Property loss
$482K
$408K structure · $75K 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 60% of all calls.

72
Total Incidents
Grass fire 14 19.4%
Building fires 10 13.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 8 11.1%
Gasoline or other flammable liquid spill 6 8.3%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 5 6.9%
All other categories 29 40.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Hamilton County?

Mar peaks. Jul dips.

Jan 11
Feb 9
Mar 12
Apr 6
May 9
Jun 3
Jul 2
Aug 2
Sep 4
Oct 7
Nov 4
Dec 3
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Hamilton County

594 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 80
2022 88
2023 137
2024 217
2025 72
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
25%
4
Cause undetermined
25%
4
Intentional / arson
19%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
2
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
19%
3
05 The biggest fires

5 fires · $408K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Hamilton County during 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 City of Kamrar Building fires Significant
2 $200,000 City of Ellsworth Building fires Significant
3 $4,500 City of Jewell Junct Gasoline or other flammable liquid spill Significant
4 $2,000 City of Williams Building fires Significant
5 $1,000 City of Stanhope Outside equipment fire Significant
06 How Hamilton County compares

Hamilton County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.85
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Hamilton County
6.85
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
0.95
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Hamilton County
0.95
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Hamilton County
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Hamilton County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19079.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Hamilton County

9 departments report from this county.

WEBSTER CITY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 40008 35 incidents
JEWELL FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 40003 13 incidents
STRATFORD FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 40007 13 incidents
KAMRAR FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 40004 10 incidents
WILLIAMS FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 40009 1 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.