Red Cross: Home Fires Remain Iowa’s Biggest Disaster Threat in 2025

While Iowans have faced deadly tornadoes and major flooding in recent years, the American Red Cross says the most common disaster it has dealt with across Iowa in 2025 has been home fires.

Red Cross spokesperson Josh Murray says crews are being called out somewhere in the state almost every day — sometimes twice a day — and the risk only grows as temperatures drop.

“So far in 2025, we’ve responded to just about 600 home fires,” Murray said. “That’s affecting more than 2,000 people.”

Murray credits Red Cross volunteers for helping families immediately after a fire, including finding temporary housing and providing essentials like blankets and snacks while residents figure out what to do next.

The Red Cross also warns that home fire responses typically increase during the holidays, with Murray noting a nearly 20% spike nationwide this time of year.

“That continues to be where we do see most of our time spent in the disaster response world,” Murray said. “Home fires are happening every day — and not just single-family homes. Apartment fires happen, too.”

He says winter conditions and holiday routines can add to the danger, as people spend more time indoors cooking, using heating equipment, running space heaters, or lighting fireplaces.

To help prevent tragedies, the Red Cross says it installed more than 1,600 free smoke alarms in Iowa this year and checked batteries in hundreds of existing alarms.

“People didn’t know they didn’t have them, or they thought they did,” Murray said. “Then when we went and checked them, they didn’t work.”

Murray says working smoke alarms save lives, and he encourages Iowans who need an alarm installed — or want an existing one checked — to visit redcross.org for information.

This holiday season, the Red Cross is also asking Iowans to consider supporting its work through financial donations or volunteering.