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2025 County Report

Fires in Sac County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Sac County responded to 110 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.

6,501 residents FIPS 19161 12 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
110
305 across 5 years
Building fires
17
24 wildland
Property loss
$777K
$650K structure · $127K 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 57% of all calls.

110
Total Incidents
Grass fire 19 17.3%
Building fires 17 15.5%
Cultivated grain or crop fire 10 9.1%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 9 8.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 8 7.3%
All other categories 47 42.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Sac County?

Mar peaks. Jul dips.

Jan 7
Feb 5
Mar 20
Apr 17
May 4
Jun 7
Jul 3
Aug 11
Sep 4
Oct 18
Nov 10
Dec 4
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Sac County

305 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 26
2022 66
2023 34
2024 69
2025 110
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
53%
19
Cause undetermined
11%
4
Intentional / arson
14%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
5
Under investigation
3%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $605K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Sac County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 93% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 City of Early Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 City of Lake View Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
3 $100,000 City of Sac City Building fires Significant
4 $50,000 City of Lake View Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
5 $40,000 City of Early Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
6 $25,000 City of Sac City Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
7 $25,000 City of Sac City Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $25,000 City of Sac City Building fires Significant
9 $20,000 City of Odebolt Building fires Significant
10 $20,000 City of Sac City Building fires Significant
06 How Sac County compares

Sac County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

16.92
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Sac County
16.92
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
2.61
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Sac County
2.61
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Sac County
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Sac County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19161.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Sac County

9 departments report from this county.

SAC CITY FIRE DEPT
Sac City
FDID 81007 28 incidents 34 vol
EARLY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 81002 23 incidents
LAKE VIEW FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 81003 21 incidents
ODEBOLT FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 81006 18 incidents
WALL LAKE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 81009 12 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.