In 2025, fire departments serving Belle Plaine responded to 58 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K 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 66% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
259 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 38 | — | |
| 2022 | 81 | +113.2% | |
| 2023 | 82 | +1.2% | |
| 2024* | 0 | — | |
| 2025 | 58 | — |
* Well below Belle Plaine'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 Belle Plaine departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 36 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 | 10 | 27.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - 5+ persons; including barrack/dormitory | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 11.1% |
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 Belle Plaine mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 17 | 47.2% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Match | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 1 | 2.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Belle Plaine departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $500 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $300 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Belle Plaine sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,887 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,909 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 20.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 24.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 217 | 46.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 200 | 10.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 180 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 180 | 21.3 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 | 56011 | 259 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Belle Plaine. 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.