In 2025, fire departments serving Chatfield responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K 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 100% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
72 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $2.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 19 | — | |
| 2022 | 16 | -15.8% | |
| 2023* | 7 | — | |
| 2024 | 16 | — | |
| 2025 | 14 | -12.5% |
* Well below Chatfield'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 Chatfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 30 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 | 11 | 36.7% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Structural area, other | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 16.7% |
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 Chatfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 21 | 70.0% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 5 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Chatfield departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Chatfield sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,683 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 49.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 295 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 195 | 46.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 124 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 83 | 39.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 83 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 41.1 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 | 55923 | 72 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Chatfield. 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.