In 2025, fire departments serving Lexington responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Nov peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
118 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $327K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 31 | — | |
| 2022 | 43 | +38.7% | |
| 2023 | 23 | -46.5% | |
| 2024* | 2 | — | |
| 2025 | 19 | — |
* Well below Lexington'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 2 building fires Lexington departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | Outside area, other | 4 | 23.5% | |
| 2 | Function area, other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Lexington mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 35.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 29.4% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 5.9% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lexington sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 18,880 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 | 12.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 10.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 835 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 420 | 17.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 336 | 11.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 38.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 306 | 10.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 280 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 2.1 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 Lexington. 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.