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2025 County Report

Fires in Jackson County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Jackson County responded to 143 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss.

11,523 residents FIPS 19097 32 cities · 11 fire depts
Total incidents
143
505 across 5 years
Building fires
26
43 wildland
Property loss
$1.1M
$647K structure · $468K 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 62% of all calls.

143
Total Incidents
Building fires 26 18.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 20 14.0%
Grass fire 17 11.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 16 11.2%
Passenger vehicle fire 10 7.0%
All other categories 54 37.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Jackson County?

Apr peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 14
Feb 16
Mar 13
Apr 30
May 15
Jun 7
Jul 12
Aug 9
Sep 4
Oct 11
Nov 9
Dec 3
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Jackson County

505 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 57
2022 71
2023 101
2024 133
2025 143
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 26 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
62%
32
Cause undetermined
21%
11
Intentional / arson
8%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
4%
2
Under investigation
2%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $593K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Jackson County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 92% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 Bellevue Building fires Major
2 $105,000 Maquoketa Building fires Significant
3 $60,000 Preston Building fires Significant
4 $50,000 City of Spragueville Fire, other Significant
5 $35,000 City of Preston Building fires Significant
6 $23,000 City of Miles Building fires Significant
7 $20,000 Maquoketa Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
8 $20,000 Maquoketa Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
9 $15,000 Maquoketa Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
10 $15,000 City of Preston Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Jackson County compares

Jackson County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

12.41
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Jackson County
12.41
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
2.26
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Jackson County
2.26
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Jackson County
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Jackson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19097.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Jackson County

11 departments report from this county.

SIOUX CITY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 97013 680 incidents 118 paid
MAQUOKETA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 49007 48 incidents
BELLEVUE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 49003 29 incidents
LA MOTTE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 49006 17 incidents
MILES FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 49008 14 incidents 10 vol
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.