In 2025, fire departments serving Melrose responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K 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 72% of all calls.
May peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
98 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 29 | — | |
| 2022 | 32 | +10.3% | |
| 2023 | 12 | -62.5% | |
| 2024* | 0 | — | |
| 2025 | 25 | — |
* Well below Melrose'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 8 building fires Melrose departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 34 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 | 16 | 47.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 26.5% | |
| 3 | Sales area, showroom (exclude display window) | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 4 | Function area, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 5 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 2.9% |
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 Melrose mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 27 | 79.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 2.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Melrose departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $28,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $9,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Melrose sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 16,372 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 1,737 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,725 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,250 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 847 | 38.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 830 | 35.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 750 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 710 | 43.7 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 680 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 663 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 620 | 18.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 600 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 520 | 45.6 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 | 56352 | 98 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Melrose. 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.