In 2025, fire departments serving Hayfield responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 84% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
71 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $611K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 5 | — | |
| 2022 | 15 | — | |
| 2023 | 18 | +20.0% | |
| 2024 | 14 | -22.2% | |
| 2025 | 19 | +35.7% |
* Well below Hayfield'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 4 building fires Hayfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 16 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 | 4 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 9 | Conveyor | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 10 | Structural area, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 6.2% |
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 Hayfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 37.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 18.8% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hayfield departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hayfield sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,784 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 177 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 83 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 65 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 60 | 39.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 60 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 55 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 54 | 40.0 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 | 55940 | 71 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Hayfield. 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.