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2025 County Report

Fires in Muscatine County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Muscatine County responded to 288 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

35,590 residents FIPS 19139 18 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
288
1,417 across 5 years
Building fires
51
65 wildland
Property loss
$1.0M
$772K structure · $249K contents
Casualties
0 / 6
0 civ deaths · 5 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.

288
Total Incidents
Building fires 51 17.7%
Unauthorized burning 32 11.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 30 10.4%
Grass fire 30 10.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 17 5.9%
All other categories 128 44.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Muscatine County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 18
Feb 30
Mar 48
Apr 40
May 17
Jun 19
Jul 16
Aug 26
Sep 13
Oct 31
Nov 20
Dec 10
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Muscatine County

1,417 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 206
2022 253
2023 293
2024 377
2025 288
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 51 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
44%
36
Cause undetermined
17%
14
Intentional / arson
5%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
5
Under investigation
27%
22
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $661K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Muscatine County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 86% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 Muscatine Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 City of Wilton Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
3 $79,000 Muscatine Building fires Significant
4 $77,280 Muscatine Building fires Significant
5 $75,000 Muscatine Building fires Significant
6 $75,000 Muscatine Building fires Significant
7 $66,000 Wilton Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
8 $49,000 Muscatine Building fires Significant
9 $20,000 City of Muscatine Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
10 $20,000 Muscatine Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other Significant
06 How Muscatine County compares

Muscatine County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

8.09
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Muscatine County
8.09
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
1.43
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Muscatine County
1.43
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Muscatine County
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Muscatine County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19139.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Muscatine County

10 departments report from this county.

MUSCATINE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 70006 140 incidents
WILTON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 70010 50 incidents
WEST LIBERTY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 70009 35 incidents
FRUITLAND FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 70003 22 incidents
ATALISSA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 70001 8 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.