In 2025, fire departments serving Hermantown responded to 59 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Feb peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
259 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $269K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 70 | — | |
| 2022 | 64 | -8.6% | |
| 2023* | 5 | — | |
| 2024 | 61 | — | |
| 2025 | 59 | -3.3% |
* Well below Hermantown'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 9 building fires Hermantown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 31 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 | 8 | 25.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 22.6% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 16.1% | |
| 4 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Storage area, other | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 3.2% |
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 Hermantown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 41.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 5 | 16.1% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 3.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hermantown departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hermantown sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 14,797 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Equipment and vehicle use | 7,499 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 973 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 950 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 732 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 517 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 487 | 18.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 410 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 350 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 270 | 46.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 240 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 240 | 37.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 216 | 45.0 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 Hermantown. 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.