In 2025, fire departments serving Frazee responded to 55 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 62% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
225 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.4M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 41 | — | |
| 2022* | 24 | — | |
| 2023 | 43 | — | |
| 2024 | 62 | +44.2% | |
| 2025 | 55 | -11.3% |
* Well below Frazee'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 12 building fires Frazee departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 48 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 | 19 | 39.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 3 | 6.2% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Other | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 22.9% |
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 Frazee mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 25 | 52.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 3 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 3 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Match | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Candle | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Frazee departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2 | Fuel burner/boiler malfunction, fire confined | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Frazee sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 35,137 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,100 | 25.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,855 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 1,800 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,725 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1,593 | 8.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1,540 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,520 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,400 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,200 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,185 | 28.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,155 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,122 | 28.8 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 | 56544 | 225 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Frazee. 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.