In 2025, fire departments serving Harris responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $25K 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 80% of all calls.
May peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
92 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $951K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 9 | — | |
| 2022 | 23 | — | |
| 2023 | 16 | -30.4% | |
| 2024 | 24 | +50.0% | |
| 2025 | 20 | -16.7% |
* Well below Harris'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 Harris departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 25 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 | 5 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 3 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Function area, other | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Office | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Structural area, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 20.0% |
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 Harris mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 32.0% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 28.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 16.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 4.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Harris departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,500 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Harris sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 23,892 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 | 20.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 22.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,460 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 1,350 | 37.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 835 | 16.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 656 | 24.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 640 | 43.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 600 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 520 | 50.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 488 | 49.7 mi |
Top 2 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 Harris. 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.