In 2025, fire departments serving Motley responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K 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 67% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
77 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $478K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 22 | — | |
| 2022 | 24 | +9.1% | |
| 2023* | 2 | — | |
| 2024* | 8 | — | |
| 2025 | 21 | — |
* Well below Motley'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 4 building fires Motley departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | 4 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Exterior, exposed surface | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Structural area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 15.0% |
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 Motley mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Motley departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Motley sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 24,649 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,100 | 42.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 1,737 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,725 | 13.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,520 | 22.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,260 | 18.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,250 | 43.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 830 | 34.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 750 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 710 | 44.8 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 680 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 663 | 31.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 620 | 30.1 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 | 56466 | 77 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Motley. 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.