In 2025, fire departments across Iowa responded to 24,451 fire and hazmat incidents — including the IAWTR-FY19-RX-Dunbar Slough wildfire that burned 759 acres in 2019.
Iowa ranks #36 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 47% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Mar peaks across the window; Dec dips.
99,496 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 14,410 | |
| 2022 | 17,107 | |
| 2023 | 19,389 | |
| 2024 | 24,139 | |
| 2025 | 24,451 |
For the 2,995 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Combined NFIRS + FPA-FOD totals across the available reporting window. Click a cause to see how it plays out nationwide.
| # | Cause | Incidents | FOD vs NFIRS | Acres | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined / missing | 8,652 | 2,790 / 5,862 | 42,819 | |
| 2 | Equipment & vehicle use | 3,367 | 299 / 3,068 | 4,542 | |
| 3 | Arson / incendiarism | 2,988 | 163 / 2,825 | 4,708 | |
| 4 | Debris & open burning | 2,099 | 2,099 / 0 | 40,531 | |
| 5 | Natural (lightning) | 614 | 26 / 588 | 699 | |
| 6 | Smoking | 166 | 166 / 0 | 1,114 | |
| 7 | Other causes | 148 | 3 / 145 | 0 | |
| 8 | Recreation & ceremony | 62 | 62 / 0 | 1,554 | |
| 9 | Railroad operations | 27 | 27 / 0 | 111 | |
| 10 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 26 | 26 / 0 | 57 | |
| 11 | Power generation / utility | 8 | 8 / 0 | 6 | |
| 12 | Fireworks | 3 | 3 / 0 | 8 |
Topical groupings of NFIRS incident types — building, cooking, electrical, vehicle, and more. Each links to its national rollup.
| # | Topic | Incidents | Loss | Deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outdoor fires | 30,016 | $6.5M | 0 | |
| 2 | Building fires | 18,865 | $318.4M | 80 | |
| 3 | Wildland fires | 16,877 | $4.6M | 0 | |
| 4 | Gas leaks | 16,183 | $115K | 0 | |
| 5 | Electrical / wiring | 8,689 | $534K | 0 | |
| 6 | Vehicle fires | 8,058 | $87.7M | 14 | |
| 7 | Rubbish / refuse | 6,255 | $2.3M | 0 | |
| 8 | Cooking-related | 3,264 | $452K | 0 | |
| 9 | Arson | 2,132 | $1.7M | 3 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 10% of Iowa's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,500,000 | City of Perry | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $1,050,000 | City of Hamburg | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $1,000,000 | City of Greenfield | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major |
| 4 | $1,000,000 | City of Van Meter | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major |
| 5 | $1,000,000 | City of Bloomfield | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major |
| 6 | $1,000,000 | City of Saint Ansgar | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $1,000,000 | City of Clearfield | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $1,000,000 | Fort Dodge | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $900,000 | Waukee | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $750,000 | City of Ogden | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare Iowa apples-to-apples to the national average.
12 largest reporting cities by population.
Top 10 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.
| # | County | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Polk County | 3,305 | 513,780 |
| 2 | Linn County | 1,625 | 210,409 |
| 3 | Scott County | 1,171 | 162,876 |
| 4 | Pottawattamie County | 1,007 | 77,486 |
| 5 | Black Hawk County | 902 | 121,327 |
| 6 | Johnson County | 829 | 131,809 |
| 7 | Woodbury County | 801 | 97,721 |
| 8 | Dubuque County | 746 | 79,830 |
| 9 | Webster County | 687 | 30,198 |
| 10 | Story County | 552 | 89,606 |
Top 9 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.
| # | County | Inc / 1k | Incidents | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pottawattamie County | 13.00 | 1,007 | 77,486 | |
| 2 | Dubuque County | 9.34 | 746 | 79,830 | |
| 3 | Woodbury County | 8.20 | 801 | 97,721 | |
| 4 | Linn County | 7.72 | 1,625 | 210,409 | |
| 5 | Black Hawk County | 7.43 | 902 | 121,327 | |
| 6 | Scott County | 7.19 | 1,171 | 162,876 | |
| 7 | Polk County | 6.43 | 3,305 | 513,780 | |
| 8 | Johnson County | 6.29 | 829 | 131,809 | |
| 9 | Story County | 6.16 | 552 | 89,606 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
| # | 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 |
129 perimeters and 12,231 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 2 | 2 | |
| 2000s | 1 | 0 | |
| 2010s | 72 | 9,935 | |
| 2020s | 54 | 2,294 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by decade, broken down by cause category. Each row sums to the decade's total; the bars show the share each cause contributed.
| Decade | Total fires | Share by cause |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 83 | |
| 2000s | 1,652 | |
| 2010s | 3,525 | |
| 2020s | 412 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 5,672 ignitions total.
633 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 5-year window. Age and gender are coarse-binned for privacy.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 24 | |
| 10-19 | 25 | |
| 20-29 | 94 | |
| 30-39 | 131 | |
| 40-49 | 107 | |
| 50-59 | 109 | |
| 60-69 | 83 | |
| 70-79 | 37 | |
| 80+ | 23 |
State totals reflect incidents reported by fire departments to NFIRS for 2025. The 5-year totals span 2021 through 2025. Wildfire perimeters and decade-by-decade counts are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History service. NFIRS reporting is voluntary, so totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.