In 2025, fire departments serving Clear Lake responded to 34 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $280K 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 82% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
124 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 33 | — | |
| 2022 | 30 | -9.1% | |
| 2023 | 27 | -10.0% | |
| 2024* | 0 | — | |
| 2025 | 34 | — |
* Well below Clear Lake'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 9 building fires Clear Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 28 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 | 39.3% | |
| 2 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 1 | 3.6% |
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 Clear Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15 | 53.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 1 | 3.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Clear Lake departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $280,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $42,009 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Clear Lake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 27,458 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 8,513 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 44.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 1,737 | 29.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,460 | 44.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 16.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,250 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 835 | 48.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 830 | 36.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 750 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 710 | 30.8 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 680 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 663 | 48.5 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 Clear 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.