In 2025, fire departments serving Lake Elmo responded to 88 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
283 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $891K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 42 | — | |
| 2022 | 58 | +38.1% | |
| 2023* | 6 | — | |
| 2024 | 89 | — | |
| 2025 | 88 | -1.1% |
* Well below Lake Elmo'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 18 building fires Lake Elmo departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 44 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 | 12 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Roof surface: exterior | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Other | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Assembly area - less than 100 persons | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 22.7% |
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 Lake Elmo mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 5 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 11.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lake Elmo departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $9,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Self-propelled motor home or recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $3,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $500 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lake Elmo sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 17,610 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 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 22.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 420 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 336 | 27.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 306 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 248 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 220 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 217 | 18.9 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 Lake Elmo. 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.