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2025 County Report

Fires in Sioux County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Sioux County responded to 218 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss.

27,813 residents FIPS 19167 19 cities · 13 fire depts
Total incidents
218
750 across 5 years
Building fires
47
48 wildland
Property loss
$3.2M
$2.0M structure · $1.3M contents
Casualties
1 / 2
1 civ deaths · 2 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 61% of all calls.

218
Total Incidents
Building fires 47 21.6%
Grass fire 36 16.5%
Cultivated grain or crop fire 21 9.6%
Fire, other 19 8.7%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 10 4.6%
All other categories 85 39.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Sioux County?

Apr peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 26
Feb 26
Mar 20
Apr 40
May 18
Jun 6
Jul 11
Aug 8
Sep 9
Oct 36
Nov 16
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Sioux County

750 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 65
2022 159
2023 114
2024 194
2025 218
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 47 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
56%
32
Cause undetermined
11%
6
Intentional / arson
7%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
21%
12
Under investigation
4%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.7M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Sioux County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 87% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 City of Orange City Building fires Major
2 $288,550 City of Rock Valley Building fires Major
3 $189,660 City of Orange City Building fires Significant
4 $169,250 City of Orange City Building fires Significant
5 $150,000 City of Granville Vehicle accident, general cleanup Significant
6 $150,000 City of Maurice Building fires Significant
7 $75,000 City of Alton Building fires Significant
8 $75,000 City of Hospers Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
9 $50,000 City of Alton Cultivated grain or crop fire Significant
10 $50,000 City of Alton Building fires Significant
06 How Sioux County compares

Sioux County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

7.84
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Sioux County
7.84
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
1.69
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Sioux County
1.69
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
36
Civilian fire deaths per million
Sioux County
36
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Sioux County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19167.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Sioux County

13 departments report from this county.

ORANGE CITY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 84011 44 incidents
SIOUX CENTER FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 84013 41 incidents
ALTON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 84001 32 incidents
BOYDEN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 84002 25 incidents
HAWARDEN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 84005 25 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.