In 2025, fire departments serving Faribault responded to 226 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,098 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $4.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 212 | — | |
| 2022 | 207 | -2.4% | |
| 2023 | 241 | +16.4% | |
| 2024 | 212 | -12.0% | |
| 2025 | 226 | +6.6% |
For the 15 building fires Faribault departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 184 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 | 36 | 19.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 30 | 16.3% | |
| 3 | Wall surface: exterior | 13 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 12 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 8 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 56 | 30.4% |
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 Faribault mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 81 | 44.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 26 | 14.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 22 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 12 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 6.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Faribault departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $45,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $12,350 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Faribault sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,037 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 | 25.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 25.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 9.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 200 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 180 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 177 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 144 | 34.1 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 | 55021 | 1,098 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Faribault. 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.