In 2025, fire departments serving Eagle Lake responded to 22 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 82% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
61 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $318K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 9 | — | |
| 2022 | 15 | +66.7% | |
| 2023 | 10 | -33.3% | |
| 2024* | 5 | — | |
| 2025 | 22 | — |
* Well below Eagle 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 3 building fires Eagle Lake 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 26.7% | |
| 2 | Other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Separate operator/control area of transportation | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 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 Eagle Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 4 | 26.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Eagle Lake departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Eagle Lake sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,535 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,909 | 7.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 11.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 12.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 200 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 180 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 177 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 16.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 144 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 85 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 75 | 27.9 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 | 56024 | 61 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Eagle 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.