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2025 County Report

Fires in Monroe County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Monroe County responded to 60 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $55K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

4,399 residents FIPS 19135 22 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
60
241 across 5 years
Building fires
10
34 wildland
Property loss
$85K
$75K structure · $10K contents
Casualties
1 / 0
1 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 80% of all calls.

60
Total Incidents
Grass fire 18 30.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 13 21.7%
Building fires 10 16.7%
Power line down 4 6.7%
Outside rubbish fire, other 3 5.0%
All other categories 12 20.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Monroe County?

Mar peaks. May dips.

Jan 5
Feb 6
Mar 21
Apr 6
May 0
Jun 2
Jul 10
Aug 3
Sep 3
Oct 1
Nov 3
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Monroe County

241 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 30
2022 56
2023 41
2024 54
2025 60
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 10 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
3
Cause undetermined
17%
1
Intentional / arson
17%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
17%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
05 The biggest fires

3 fires · $75K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Monroe County during 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $55,000 City of Lovilia Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
2 $10,000 City of Albia Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $10,000 City of Lovilia Building fires Significant
06 How Monroe County compares

Monroe County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.64
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Monroe County
13.64
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
2.27
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Monroe County
2.27
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
227.3
Civilian fire deaths per million
Monroe County
227.3
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Monroe County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19135.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Monroe County

3 departments report from this county.

ALBIA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 68001 43 incidents
LOVILIA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 68002 18 incidents
MELROSE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 68003 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.