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2025 County Report

Fires in Osceola County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Osceola County responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $15K property loss.

4,463 residents FIPS 19143 8 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
12
79 across 5 years
Building fires
3
5 wildland
Property loss
$70K
$30K structure · $40K 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 75% of all calls.

12
Total Incidents
Building fires 3 25.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 2 16.7%
Grass fire 2 16.7%
Passenger vehicle fire 1 8.3%
Special outside fire, other 1 8.3%
All other categories 3 25.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Osceola County?

Sep peaks. Mar dips.

Jan 1
Feb 3
Mar 0
Apr 1
May 1
Jun 0
Jul 1
Aug 0
Sep 4
Oct 1
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Osceola County

79 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 13
2022 23
2023 16
2024 15
2025 12
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 3 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
67%
4
Cause undetermined
17%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
16%
1
05 The biggest fires

4 fires · $30K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Osceola County during 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $15,000 City of Sibley Passenger vehicle fire Significant
2 $10,000 City of Ashton Building fires Significant
3 $4,500 City of Ashton Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
4 $500 City of Ashton Special outside fire, other Significant
06 How Osceola County compares

Osceola County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

2.69
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Osceola County
2.69
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
0.67
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Osceola County
0.67
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Osceola County
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Osceola County

8 cities mapped to FIPS 19143.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Osceola County

6 departments report from this county.

ASHTON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 72001 6 incidents
SIBLEY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 72006 2 incidents
HARRIS FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 72002 0 incidents
MAY CITY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 72003 0 incidents
MELVIN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 72004 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.