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2025 County Report

Fires in Humboldt County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Humboldt County responded to 41 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss.

8,260 residents FIPS 19091 14 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
41
108 across 5 years
Building fires
9
9 wildland
Property loss
$784K
$308K structure · $476K 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 68% of all calls.

41
Total Incidents
Building fires 9 22.0%
Grass fire 7 17.1%
Authorized controlled burning 6 14.6%
Passenger vehicle fire 3 7.3%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 3 7.3%
All other categories 13 31.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Humboldt County?

Jan peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 11
Feb 5
Mar 2
Apr 6
May 3
Jun 6
Jul 1
Aug 0
Sep 1
Oct 6
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Humboldt County

108 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 11
2022 13
2023 13
2024 30
2025 41
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 9 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
64%
7
Cause undetermined
9%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
1
Under investigation
18%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

5 fires · $308K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $150,000 City of Renwick Building fires Significant
2 $95,000 City of Dakota City Building fires Significant
3 $45,000 City of Humboldt Building fires Significant
4 $10,000 City of Bradgate Building fires Significant
5 $8,000 City of Hardy Building fires Significant
06 How Humboldt County compares

Humboldt County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.96
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Humboldt County
4.96
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
1.09
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Humboldt County
1.09
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Humboldt County
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Humboldt County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19091.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Humboldt County

10 departments report from this county.

RENWICK FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 46009 14 incidents
GILMORE CITY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 46004 13 incidents
HUMBOLDT FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 46006 2 incidents
OTTOSEN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 46008 2 incidents
BRADGATE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 46002 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.