In 2025, fire departments serving Hutchinson responded to 134 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 80% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
566 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 133 | — | |
| 2022 | 100 | -24.8% | |
| 2023 | 103 | +3.0% | |
| 2024 | 96 | -6.8% | |
| 2025 | 134 | +39.6% |
For the 17 building fires Hutchinson departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 108 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 | 15 | 13.9% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 13 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 10.2% | |
| 4 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 5 | 4.6% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 5 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 5 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 38 | 35.2% |
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 Hutchinson mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 28 | 25.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 10.2% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 7 | 6.5% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 10 | 9.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hutchinson departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $65,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $35,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hutchinson sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,864 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 430 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 45.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 264 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 231 | 42.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 229 | 42.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 225 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 217 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 200 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 180 | 8.5 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 | 55350 | 566 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Hutchinson. 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.