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2025 County Report

Fires in Winneshiek County, IA

In 2025, fire departments serving Winneshiek County responded to 99 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss.

10,624 residents FIPS 19191 20 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
99
371 across 5 years
Building fires
12
31 wildland
Property loss
$1.1M
$397K structure · $696K 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 60% of all calls.

99
Total Incidents
Grass fire 21 21.2%
Building fires 12 12.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 11 11.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 9 9.1%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 6 6.1%
All other categories 40 40.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Winneshiek County?

Apr peaks. Jul dips.

Jan 19
Feb 4
Mar 12
Apr 20
May 9
Jun 2
Jul 0
Aug 6
Sep 2
Oct 11
Nov 9
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Winneshiek County

371 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 64
2022 79
2023 64
2024 65
2025 99
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 12 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
78%
25
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
6%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
4
Under investigation
3%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $396K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Winneshiek County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $150,000 Decorah Building fires Significant
2 $75,000 Decorah Outside equipment fire Significant
3 $75,000 City of Ossian Building fires Significant
4 $40,000 City of Ossian Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $30,000 Decorah Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $10,000 Decorah Building fires Significant
7 $10,000 Frankville Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $3,000 Decorah Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $2,000 Decorah Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
10 $1,000 Decorah Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire Significant
06 How Winneshiek County compares

Winneshiek County vs IA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.32
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Winneshiek County
9.32
IA avg
9.41
US avg
7.15
1.13
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Winneshiek County
1.13
IA avg
1.15
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Winneshiek County
0
IA avg
7.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Winneshiek County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 19191.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Winneshiek County

8 departments report from this county.

WEST DES MOINES FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 77019 302 incidents 18 paid
DECORAH FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 96003 52 incidents
RIDGEWAY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 96008 14 incidents
OSSIAN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 96006 11 incidents
FRANKVILLE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 96007 9 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.