In 2025, fire departments serving Apple Valley responded to 136 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
787 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 156 | — | |
| 2022 | 179 | +14.7% | |
| 2023 | 151 | -15.6% | |
| 2024 | 165 | +9.3% | |
| 2025 | 136 | -17.6% |
For the 3 building fires Apple Valley departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 200 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 | 34 | 17.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 27 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 24 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 11 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 9 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 9 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 9 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 53 | 26.5% |
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 Apple Valley mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 34 | 17.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 34 | 17.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 24 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 17 | 8.5% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 14 | 7.0% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 6.5% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 10 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 27 | 13.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Apple Valley departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $11,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $6,250 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,665 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,569 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Apple Valley sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
5 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 19,674 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 8,513 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,909 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 5.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 420 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 336 | 38.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 306 | 36.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 248 | 41.4 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 Apple Valley. 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.