In 2025, fire departments serving Mountain Iron responded to 38 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $80K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
May peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
216 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $6.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 52 | — | |
| 2022 | 57 | +9.6% | |
| 2023 | 38 | -33.3% | |
| 2024 | 31 | -18.4% | |
| 2025 | 38 | +22.6% |
For the 4 building fires Mountain Iron departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 83 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 26 | 31.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 14 | 16.9% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 8 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Equipment or service area, other | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Switchgear area, transformer vault | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 13 | 15.7% |
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 Mountain Iron mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 22 | 26.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 20 | 24.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 11 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 10.8% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 10.8% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 2.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mountain Iron departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $12,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,500 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $300 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mountain Iron sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,552 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,200 | 17.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,200 | 13.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 973 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 953 | 30.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 950 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 936 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 732 | 16.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 517 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 340 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 270 | 24.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 250 | 17.4 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 Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Mountain Iron. 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.