In 2025, fire departments serving Buhl responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 90% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
51 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $5K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | -25.0% | |
| 2023* | 6 | — | |
| 2024 | 7 | — | |
| 2025 | 10 | +42.9% |
* Well below Buhl'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 0 building fires Buhl departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 11 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 | 36.4% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 9.1% |
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 Buhl mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 72.7% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 1 | 9.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Buhl sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,512 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,200 | 24.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,200 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 973 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 953 | 34.7 mi | |
| 1998 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 950 | 18.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 936 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 732 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 517 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 340 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 270 | 17.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 250 | 24.9 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 | 55713 | 51 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Buhl. 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.