ZIP 50009 recorded 107 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 560 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Polk County, IA. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.
560 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 81 | |
| 2022 | 91 | |
| 2023 | 136 | |
| 2024 | 145 | |
| 2025 | 107 |
Dec peaks. Aug dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 50009 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Building fires | 94 | 16.8% | |
| 2 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 65 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Gasoline or other flammable liquid spill | 35 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Passenger vehicle fire | 32 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking fire, confined to container | 29 | 5.2% |
For the 24 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 50009 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 17 | 15.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 6.4% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 7 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Other | 6 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 6 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 5.5% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 6 | 5.5% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 48 | 44.0% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 31 | 28.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 11 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 9.2% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 6.4% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 5.5% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 5.5% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 17 | 15.6% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 50009 across 2021–2025. These 8 fires alone account for 1579% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | 2023 | Major |
| 2 | $250,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | 2023 | Major |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Significant |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | 2023 | Significant |
| 5 | $96,500 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
| 6 | $90,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
| 7 | $80,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Significant |
| 8 | $60,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 50009.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Altoona | 522 | |
| 2 | Des Moines | 4 | |
| 3 | Pleasant Hill | 4 | |
| 4 | Mitchellville | 3 | |
| 5 | Ankeny | 1 |
The figures above are historical. For today's air quality, fire-weather warnings, and active fires, go to the official sources.
NFIRS reports each fire incident with a 5-digit address ZIP. We aggregate those rows directly to produce ZIP-level totals — 560 incidents in this ZIP across 2021–2025. Building-fire breakdowns (Area of Origin, Heat Source, ignition cause) only count fires investigators classified beyond the basic incident report. Because NFIRS reporting is voluntary, totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.