In 2025, fire departments serving Moorhead responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K 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 95% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
66 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $208K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023 | 21 | — | |
| 2024 | 23 | +9.5% | |
| 2025 | 21 | -8.7% |
* Well below Moorhead'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 7 building fires Moorhead departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 36 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 | 36.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 4 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Structural area, other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 11.1% |
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 Moorhead mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 23 | 63.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Conducted heat from another fire | 1 | 2.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Moorhead departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $12,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Moorhead sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,433 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,208 | 48.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 473 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 279 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 265 | 21.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 250 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 250 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 239 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 210 | 17.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 205 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 203 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 45.9 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 | 38761 | 66 |
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Moorhead. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Moorhead.
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.