In 2025, fire departments serving Luverne responded to 33 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 91% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
100 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17 | — | |
| 2022 | 27 | +58.8% | |
| 2023 | 22 | -18.5% | |
| 2024* | 1 | — | |
| 2025 | 33 | — |
* Well below Luverne'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 9 building fires Luverne 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 | 13 | 40.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Function area, other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 9.4% |
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 Luverne mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 20 | 62.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 3.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Luverne departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $450,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Luverne sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,727 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 1,500 | 20.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 1,400 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 425 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 214 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 27.3 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 | 56156 | 100 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Luverne. 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.