In 2025, fire departments serving Cold Spring responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
61 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $865K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 7 | — | |
| 2022 | 17 | — | |
| 2023* | 4 | — | |
| 2024 | 10 | — | |
| 2025 | 23 | +130.0% |
* Well below Cold Spring'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 2 building fires Cold Spring 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 | Outside area, other | 3 | 23.1% | |
| 3 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 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 Cold Spring mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 46.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 7.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cold Spring sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,242 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 1,737 | 36.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,250 | 39.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 830 | 36.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 750 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 710 | 37.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 680 | 40.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 640 | 42.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 620 | 31.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 600 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 520 | 39.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 488 | 41.9 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 | 56320 | 61 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Cold Spring. 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.