In 2025, fire departments serving Atwater responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $206K 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 61% of all calls.
May peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
67 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $331K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 14 | — | |
| 2022 | 9 | -35.7% | |
| 2023* | 8 | — | |
| 2024 | 13 | — | |
| 2025 | 23 | +76.9% |
* Well below Atwater'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 5 building fires Atwater departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 19 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 | Undetermined | 6 | 31.6% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 5.3% |
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 Atwater mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 47.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 4 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Lightning | 1 | 5.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Atwater departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $206,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $500 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Atwater sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,695 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 | 847 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 430 | 20.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 404 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 321 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 307 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 303 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 264 | 19.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 252 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 240 | 26.6 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 56209 | 67 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Atwater. 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.