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2025 County Report

Fires in Lucas County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Lucas County responded to 124 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $999 property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

5,091 residents FIPS 19117 12 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
124
421 across 5 years
Building fires
11
60 wildland
Property loss
$111K
$56K structure · $55K 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 68% of all calls.

124
Total Incidents
Grass fire 38 30.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 19 15.3%
Building fires 11 8.9%
Authorized controlled burning 10 8.1%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 6 4.8%
All other categories 40 32.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Lucas County?

Mar peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 16
Feb 10
Mar 38
Apr 13
May 9
Jun 3
Jul 4
Aug 6
Sep 2
Oct 3
Nov 14
Dec 6
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Lucas County

421 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 43
2022 78
2023 75
2024 101
2025 124
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 11 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
55%
11
Cause undetermined
10%
2
Intentional / arson
10%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
2
Under investigation
15%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $10K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Lucas County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 18% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $999 City of Chariton Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
2 $999 City of Chariton Grass fire Significant
3 $999 City of Chariton Grass fire Significant
4 $999 City of Chariton Grass fire Significant
5 $999 City of Chariton Grass fire Significant
6 $999 City of Lucas Building fires Significant
7 $999 City of Chariton Grass fire Significant
8 $999 City of Chariton Unauthorized burning Significant
9 $999 City of Chariton Grass fire Significant
10 $999 City of Chariton Building fires Significant
06 How Lucas County compares

Lucas County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

24.36
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Lucas County
24.36
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
2.16
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Lucas County
2.16
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Lucas County
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Lucas County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19117.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Lucas County

5 departments report from this county.

CHARITON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 59001 84 incidents
RUSSELL FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 59004 26 incidents
LUCAS FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 59003 15 incidents
DERBY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 59002 0 incidents
WILLIAMSON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 59005 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).

#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.