In 2025, fire departments serving Cass Lake responded to 76 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.5M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 82% of all calls.
May peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
293 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $6.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 66 | — | |
| 2022 | 53 | -19.7% | |
| 2023 | 49 | -7.5% | |
| 2024 | 49 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 76 | +55.1% |
For the 14 building fires Cass Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 116 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 | 59 | 50.9% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 6.9% | |
| 3 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 6 | 5.2% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Entrance way, lobby | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Egress/exit, other | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Shipping/receiving area; loading area, dock or bay | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 22 | 19.0% |
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 Cass Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 85 | 73.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 5 | 4.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 7 | Molten, hot material | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 6.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cass Lake departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,542,800 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $101,925 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,300 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $11,891 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $800 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cass Lake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 26,235 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,100 | 46.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,500 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,010 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 1,716 | 41.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,242 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 950 | 37.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 880 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 658 | 46.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 600 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 600 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 535 | 22.6 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Cass 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.