In 2025, fire departments serving Howard Lake responded to 55 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $7.0M 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 78% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
162 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $20.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 35 | — | |
| 2022 | 34 | -2.9% | |
| 2023 | 31 | -8.8% | |
| 2024* | 7 | — | |
| 2025 | 55 | — |
* Well below Howard 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 14 building fires Howard Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 32 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 | 14 | 43.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Exterior, exposed surface | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Wall assembly | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 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 Howard Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 21 | 65.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 9.4% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Fireworks | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 3.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Howard Lake departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $7,000,000 | Building fires | Catastrophic | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $65,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $3,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Howard Lake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 16,143 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 | 48.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 420 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 336 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 40.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 33.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 306 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 280 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 264 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 42.4 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 | 55349 | 162 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Howard 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.