In 2025, fire departments serving Minden responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K 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 75% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
90 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $409K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 19 | — | |
| 2022 | 23 | +21.1% | |
| 2023* | 4 | — | |
| 2024 | 28 | — | |
| 2025 | 16 | -42.9% |
* Well below Minden'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 1 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 28 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 | 8 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 21.4% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 3.6% |
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 | 16 | 57.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 5 | 17.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Lightning | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 3.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Minden departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $4,500 | Natural vegetation fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Minden sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,942 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 1,520 | 18.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 1,500 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,100 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 640 | 11.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 500 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 480 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 440 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 252 | 29.7 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 Nebraska cities with population within ±25% of Minden. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 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.