In 2025, fire departments serving Lauderdale responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Cooking fire, confined to container lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 88% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
80 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $73K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | — | |
| 2022 | 13 | -23.5% | |
| 2023 | 15 | +15.4% | |
| 2024 | 18 | +20.0% | |
| 2025 | 17 | -5.6% |
For the 0 building fires Lauderdale departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 9 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 | 3 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 3 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 4 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 11.1% |
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 Lauderdale mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 11.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lauderdale sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 18,147 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 | 22.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 20.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 11.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 420 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 336 | 21.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 44.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 306 | 19.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 280 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 11.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 248 | 24.6 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 Lauderdale. 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.