In 2025, fire departments serving Newport responded to 31 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
140 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $405K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 34 | — | |
| 2022 | 35 | +2.9% | |
| 2023 | 35 | +0.0% | |
| 2024* | 5 | — | |
| 2025 | 31 | — |
* Well below Newport'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 2 building fires Newport departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 22 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 | 11 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Undetermined | 1 | 4.5% |
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 Newport mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 59.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 4.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Newport departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $7,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $4,900 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Newport sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 16,455 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 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 11.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 420 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 336 | 32.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 306 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 248 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 42.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 217 | 22.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 14.2 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 | 55055 | 140 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Newport. 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.