In 2025, fire departments serving Polk County responded to 3,305 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $375K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 48% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips.
14,194 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2,335 | |
| 2022 | 1,672 | |
| 2023 | 3,229 | |
| 2024 | 3,653 | |
| 2025 | 3,305 |
For the 291 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Polk County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 39% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $375,000 | Des Moines | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $300,000 | Polk City | Water vehicle fire | Major |
| 3 | $280,700 | Ankeny | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $250,000 | Pleasant Hill | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Major |
| 5 | $250,000 | Pleasant Hill | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $250,000 | City of Grimes | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $200,000 | Bondurant | Building fires | Significant |
| 8 | $200,000 | Urbandale | Building fires | Significant |
| 9 | $200,000 | Urbandale | Building fires | Significant |
| 10 | $150,000 | Elkhart | Building fires | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 19153.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Des Moines | 213,164 | View › |
| West Des Moines | 68,744 | View › |
| Ankeny | 68,392 | View › |
| Urbandale | 45,591 | View › |
| Johnston | 23,856 | View › |
| Altoona | 20,017 | View › |
| Clive | 18,576 | View › |
| Grimes | 15,402 | View › |
| Pleasant Hill | 10,456 | View › |
| Bondurant | 7,617 | View › |
| Polk City | 5,604 | View › |
| Windsor Heights | 5,200 | View › |
19 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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.