In 2025, fire departments serving Big Lake responded to 87 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $180K 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 67% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
355 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $4.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 94 | — | |
| 2022 | 66 | -29.8% | |
| 2023 | 104 | +57.6% | |
| 2024* | 4 | — | |
| 2025 | 87 | — |
* Well below Big Lake'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 10 building fires Big Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 64 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 | 18 | 28.1% | |
| 2 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 9.4% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 17 | 26.6% |
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 Big Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 25 | 39.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 8 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 10.9% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 12.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Big Lake departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $180,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $170,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Big Lake sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 27,533 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 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 30.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 1,737 | 38.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,460 | 47.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 9.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,250 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 835 | 43.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 830 | 47.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 750 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 710 | 39.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 680 | 40.9 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 | 55309 | 355 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Big Lake. 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.