In 2025, fire departments serving Morristown responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1 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 91% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
30 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $24K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022 | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 9 | +28.6% | |
| 2024* | 0 | — | |
| 2025 | 11 | — |
* Well below Morristown'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 Morristown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 9 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 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 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 Morristown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 44.4% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 11.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Morristown departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Morristown sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,013 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,909 | 16.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 18.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 8.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 200 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 180 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 177 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 144 | 38.4 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 | 55052 | 30 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Morristown. 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.