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2025 County Report

Fires in Ida County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Ida County responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss.

5,058 residents FIPS 19093 5 cities · 5 fire depts

Total incidents

104 across 5 years

Building fires

5 wildland

Property loss

$510K

$500K structure · $10K contents

Casualties

0 / 0

0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj

01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Fires in structures other than in a building lead by count. Top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.

Total Incidents

Fires in structures other than in a building 3 16.7%

Grass fire 3 16.7%

Building fires 2 11.1%

Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other 2 11.1%

Accident, potential accident, other 2 11.1%

All other categories 6 33.3%

02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Ida County?

Oct peaks. May dips.

Jan 1

Feb 3

Mar 2

Apr 1

May 0

Jun 0

Jul 1

Aug 2

Sep 1

Oct 6

Nov 1

Dec 0

03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Ida County

104 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

Year	Incidents
2021	10
2022	19
2023	32
2024	25
2025	18

04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 2 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional

80%

Cause undetermined

Intentional / arson

20%

Equipment / heat source failure

Under investigation

Act of nature (lightning)

05 The biggest fires

1 fires · $500K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Ida County during 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#	Property loss	City	Type	Severity
1	$500,000	City of Galva	Grass fire	Major

06 How Ida County compares

Ida County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

3.56

Incidents per 1,000 residents

Ida County

3.56

IA avg

9.41

US avg

7.15

0.4

Building fires per 1,000 residents

Ida County

0.4

IA avg

1.15

US avg

0.82

Civilian fire deaths per million

Ida County

IA avg

7.3

US avg

5.8

07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Ida County

5 cities mapped to FIPS 19093.

City	Population
Ida Grove	1,969	View ›
Holstein	1,560	View ›
Battle Creek	830	View ›
Galva	444	View ›
Arthur	255	View ›

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Ida County

5 departments report from this county.

GALVA FIRE DEPT

—

FDID 47003 10 incidents

IDA GROVE FIRE DEPT

—

FDID 47005 7 incidents

BATTLE CREEK FIRE DEPT

—

FDID 47002 2 incidents

ARTHUR FIRE DEPT

—

FDID 47001 0 incidents

HOLSTEIN FIRE DEPT

—

FDID 47004 0 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).

#	Name	Year	Agency	Acres
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.