In 2025, fire departments serving Mayer responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 60% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
79 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $549K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 21 | +31.2% | |
| 2023* | 8 | — | |
| 2024 | 14 | — | |
| 2025 | 20 | +42.9% |
* Well below Mayer'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 0 building fires Mayer departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | 4 | 26.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Structural area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Mayer mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 26.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 26.7% | |
| 3 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mayer departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mayer sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 21,263 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 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,909 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 46.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 420 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 336 | 41.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 42.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 306 | 39.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 280 | 48.4 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 | 55360 | 79 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Mayer. 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.