Structure fires plunged in 2018 in Ottumwa, and Fire Chief Tony Miller is at a bit of a loss for an explanation.
“Our structure fires went from 56 to 25,” he said. “I can’t answer why.”
The number of fires was the biggest shift shown in the department’s 2018 annual report, which was released Wednesday. While there isn’t a clear explanation for why the numbers dropped, there were some patterns from 2017. Many of those fires took place in vacant homes, including two locations that burned at least twice.
A majority of the house fires in 2018 took place in the first half of the year. Only 10 were reported in the second half — five in each of the final two quarters.
The city has worked over the past several years to reduce the number of vacant and dilapidated homes, through either sale and repair or demolition. That helps, but Miller isn’t sure whether any one factor can explain the sharp drop in fires.