In 2025, fire departments serving North Oaks responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500 building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 93% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
111 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $8K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 21 | — | |
| 2022 | 19 | -9.5% | |
| 2023 | 39 | +105.3% | |
| 2024* | 4 | — | |
| 2025 | 28 | — |
* Well below North Oaks'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 North Oaks departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 7 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 | 2 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 14.3% |
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 North Oaks mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 3 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 28.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 14.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by North Oaks departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. North Oaks sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 18,757 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 | 14.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 13.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 835 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 420 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 336 | 16.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 43.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 306 | 15.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 280 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 6.9 mi |
Top 3 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 North Oaks. 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.