In 2025, fire departments serving Carlton responded to 31 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K 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 58% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
110 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $298K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 24 | — | |
| 2022 | 27 | +12.5% | |
| 2023 | 22 | -18.5% | |
| 2024* | 6 | — | |
| 2025 | 31 | — |
* Well below Carlton'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 Carlton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 13 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 | 30.8% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 10 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 7.7% |
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 Carlton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 3 | 23.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 15.4% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 1 | 7.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Carlton departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Carlton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 19,942 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Equipment and vehicle use | 7,499 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,200 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 1,350 | 45.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 950 | 41.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 930 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 732 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 517 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 487 | 13.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 410 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 350 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 275 | 39.4 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 | 55718 | 110 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Carlton. 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.