In 2025, fire departments serving Heron Lake responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
48 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 14 | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | -14.3% | |
| 2023 | 7 | -41.7% | |
| 2024* | 5 | — | |
| 2025 | 10 | — |
* Well below Heron Lake'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 1 building fires Heron Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 24 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 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 20.8% | |
| 3 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 8.3% |
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 Heron Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 54.2% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 4.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Heron Lake departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Heron Lake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,394 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 226 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 215 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 155 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 152 | 14.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 145 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 127 | 12.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 123 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 100 | 46.1 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 | 56137 | 48 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Heron Lake. 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.