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2025 County Report

Fires in Marshall County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Marshall County responded to 346 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $220K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

33,436 residents FIPS 19127 27 cities · 12 fire depts
Total incidents
346
1,616 across 5 years
Building fires
28
87 wildland
Property loss
$1.0M
$620K structure · $398K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Unauthorized burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.

346
Total Incidents
Unauthorized burning 51 14.7%
Grass fire 39 11.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 31 9.0%
Building fires 28 8.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 28 8.1%
All other categories 169 48.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Marshall County?

Apr peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 26
Feb 27
Mar 29
Apr 48
May 45
Jun 28
Jul 26
Aug 34
Sep 35
Oct 11
Nov 31
Dec 6
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Marshall County

1,616 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 320
2022 387
2023 160
2024 403
2025 346
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 28 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
51%
37
Cause undetermined
11%
8
Intentional / arson
14%
10
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
9
Under investigation
10%
7
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $480K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Marshall County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 77% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $220,000 Marshalltown Fire, other Significant
2 $60,000 City of State Center Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $35,000 Marshalltown Passenger vehicle fire Significant
4 $30,000 Marshalltown Building fires Significant
5 $30,000 Marshalltown Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
6 $30,000 Marshalltown Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $25,000 Marshalltown Building fires Significant
8 $20,000 Marshalltown Building fires Significant
9 $15,000 City of Albion Building fires Significant
10 $15,000 City of Laurel Building fires Significant
06 How Marshall County compares

Marshall County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.35
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Marshall County
10.35
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
0.84
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Marshall County
0.84
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Marshall County
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Marshall County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19127.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Marshall County

12 departments report from this county.

GILMAN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 64004 28 incidents
LE GRAND FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 64008 28 incidents
MELBOURNE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 64011 24 incidents
ALBION FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 64001 21 incidents
GREEN MOUNTIAN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 64005 19 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.