In 2025, fire departments serving New Hope responded to 139 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $174K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
732 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.5M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 153 | — | |
| 2022 | 184 | +20.3% | |
| 2023 | 158 | -14.1% | |
| 2024 | 98 | -38.0% | |
| 2025 | 139 | +41.8% |
For the 19 building fires New Hope departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 124 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 15 | 12.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 15 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 11 | 8.9% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 9 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Exterior, exposed surface | 8 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 8 | 6.5% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 32 | 25.8% |
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 New Hope mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 51 | 41.1% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 11.3% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 19 | 15.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by New Hope departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $174,050 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $59,091 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $17,492 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $8,339 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. New Hope sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 18,229 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 8,513 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 21.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 16.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 420 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 336 | 18.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 36.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 306 | 16.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 280 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 12.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 248 | 25.6 mi |
Top 4 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 New Hope. 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.