In 2025, fire departments serving Brooten responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $140K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
68 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | — | |
| 2022 | 9 | -47.1% | |
| 2023 | 16 | +77.8% | |
| 2024* | 5 | — | |
| 2025 | 21 | — |
* Well below Brooten'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 2 building fires Brooten departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 12 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 | 4 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 8 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 1 | 8.3% |
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 Brooten mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Brooten departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $140,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Brooten sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,974 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 3,191 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 847 | 19.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 620 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 440 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 430 | 18.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 404 | 18.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Recreation and ceremony | 326 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 321 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 307 | 19.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 303 | 18.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 292 | 49.3 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 | 56316 | 68 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Brooten. 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.