In 2025, fire departments serving Dover responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 77% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
43 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $226K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 6 | — | |
| 2022 | 6 | +0.0% | |
| 2023 | 10 | +66.7% | |
| 2024 | 8 | -20.0% | |
| 2025 | 13 | +62.5% |
For the 4 building fires Dover departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 12 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 | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 8.3% |
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 Dover mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 41.7% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Candle | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dover departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dover sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,042 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 | 38.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 295 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 195 | 46.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 124 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 83 | 30.7 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 83 | 22.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 65 | 43.3 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 65 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 37.0 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 | 55929 | 43 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Dover. 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.