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2025 County Report

Fires in Hancock County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Hancock County responded to 73 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss.

7,569 residents FIPS 19081 14 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
73
189 across 5 years
Building fires
17
17 wildland
Property loss
$391K
$179K structure · $212K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.

73
Total Incidents
Building fires 17 23.3%
Grass fire 12 16.4%
Passenger vehicle fire 7 9.6%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 7 9.6%
Prescribed fire 7 9.6%
All other categories 23 31.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Hancock County?

Jan peaks. Jun dips.

Jan 15
Feb 3
Mar 3
Apr 13
May 2
Jun 1
Jul 10
Aug 1
Sep 7
Oct 10
Nov 4
Dec 4
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Hancock County

189 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 12
2022 29
2023 18
2024 57
2025 73
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 17 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
78%
21
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
3
Under investigation
4%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $172K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Hancock County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 96% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 City of Garner Building fires Significant
2 $20,000 City of Garner Building fires Significant
3 $15,000 City of Garner Building fires Significant
4 $10,000 City of Garner Building fires Significant
5 $6,000 City of Britt Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $5,000 City of Garner Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $5,000 City of Garner Building fires Significant
8 $4,700 City of Garner Building fires Significant
9 $4,000 City of Britt Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
10 $2,000 City of Garner Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Hancock County compares

Hancock County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.64
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Hancock County
9.64
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
2.25
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Hancock County
2.25
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Hancock County
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Hancock County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19081.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Hancock County

8 departments report from this county.

GARNER FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 41004 31 incidents
BRITT FIRE DEPT
Britt
FDID 41001 15 incidents 24 vol
GOODELL FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 41005 11 incidents
CRYSTAL LAKE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 41003 8 incidents
CORWITH FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 41002 3 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.