In 2025, fire departments serving Ada responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 90% of all calls.
May peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
60 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $322K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 8 | — | |
| 2022* | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 24 | — | |
| 2024 | 12 | -50.0% | |
| 2025 | 10 | -16.7% |
* Well below Ada's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 3 building fires Ada departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 27 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 5 | Function area, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Office | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 22.2% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Ada mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 18.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 4 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 14.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 14.8% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Match | 1 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 7.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ada departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ada sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 30,212 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 3,200 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,425 | 11.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 1,800 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,792 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1,593 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1,540 | 11.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,400 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,200 | 16.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,185 | 30.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,155 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,122 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 1,120 | 49.9 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Ada. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.