In 2025, fire departments serving Excelsior responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 73% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
173 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $30K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 29 | — | |
| 2022 | 43 | +48.3% | |
| 2023 | 35 | -18.6% | |
| 2024 | 40 | +14.3% | |
| 2025 | 26 | -35.0% |
For the 0 building fires Excelsior departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 11 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 | Outside area, other | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 27.3% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Wall assembly | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 9.1% |
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 Excelsior mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 36.4% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 18.2% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 1 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 9.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Excelsior sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 21,294 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 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,909 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 34.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 17.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 420 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 336 | 30.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 42.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 306 | 28.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 280 | 46.4 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 | 55331 | 173 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Excelsior. 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.