In 2025, fire departments serving Minden responded to 130 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 58% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
649 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $6.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 116 | — | |
| 2022 | 110 | -5.2% | |
| 2023 | 145 | +31.8% | |
| 2024 | 148 | +2.1% | |
| 2025 | 130 | -12.2% |
For the 19 building fires Minden departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 271 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 | 146 | 53.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 22 | 8.1% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 5.2% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 12 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Other | 9 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 5 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Structural area, other | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 40 | 14.8% |
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 Minden mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 203 | 74.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 12 | 4.4% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 3.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 3.0% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 1.8% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 1.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 1.1% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 3 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 16 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Minden departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 74% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $90,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $80,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Minden sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 19,002 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,969 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,378 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,254 | 40.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 929 | 37.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 906 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 902 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 902 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 745 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 727 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 669 | 12.7 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 452 | 40.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 429 | 40.8 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 | 71055 | 649 |
Six Louisiana cities with population within ±25% of Minden. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Minden.
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.