In 2025, fire departments serving Greenfield responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K 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 65% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
66 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $572K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 12 | — | |
| 2022 | 24 | +100.0% | |
| 2023 | 10 | -58.3% | |
| 2024* | 3 | — | |
| 2025 | 17 | — |
* Well below Greenfield'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 Greenfield 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 | Other | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 6 | Office | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 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 Greenfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Greenfield departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Greenfield sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 18,367 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 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 30.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 420 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 336 | 24.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 27.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 306 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 280 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 248 | 33.9 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Greenfield. 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.