In 2025, fire departments serving Cosmos responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 75% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
62 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $577K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | +5.9% | |
| 2023* | 5 | — | |
| 2024* | 6 | — | |
| 2025 | 16 | — |
* Well below Cosmos'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 4 building fires Cosmos departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Cosmos mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Match | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cosmos departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $3,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $400 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cosmos sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,487 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 | 847 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 430 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 264 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 240 | 39.3 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 231 | 29.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 229 | 29.6 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 225 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 217 | 16.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 200 | 41.6 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 | 56228 | 62 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Cosmos. 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.