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2025 County Report

Fires in Ringgold County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Ringgold County responded to 65 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $50K property loss.

3,000 residents FIPS 19159 12 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
65
105 across 5 years
Building fires
17
31 wildland
Property loss
$162K
$124K structure · $38K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 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 86% of all calls.

65
Total Incidents
Grass fire 28 43.1%
Building fires 17 26.2%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 6 9.2%
Fires in structures other than in a building 3 4.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 2 3.1%
All other categories 9 13.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Ringgold County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 10
Feb 4
Mar 17
Apr 6
May 6
Jun 5
Jul 1
Aug 3
Sep 1
Oct 5
Nov 7
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Ringgold County

105 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 9
2022 6
2023 6
2024 19
2025 65
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 17 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
67%
12
Cause undetermined
6%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
22%
4
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
1
05 The biggest fires

7 fires · $124K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Ringgold County during 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $50,000 City of Mount Ayr Building fires Significant
2 $40,000 City of Mount Ayr Building fires Significant
3 $15,000 City of Mount Ayr Passenger vehicle fire Significant
4 $10,000 City of Tingley Building fires Significant
5 $4,000 City of Mount Ayr Building fires Significant
6 $2,500 City of Mount Ayr Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
7 $2,000 City of Mount Ayr Building fires Significant
06 How Ringgold County compares

Ringgold County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

21.67
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Ringgold County
21.67
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
5.67
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Ringgold County
5.67
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Ringgold County
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Ringgold County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19159.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Ringgold County

5 departments report from this county.

MOUNT AYR FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 80008 43 incidents
DIAGONAL FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 80004 26 incidents
KELLERTON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 80006 0 incidents
TINGLEY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 80010 0 incidents
ELLSTONUNION TWP FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 80011 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.