In 2025, fire departments serving Nowthen responded to 33 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 73% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
153 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 35 | — | |
| 2022 | 47 | +34.3% | |
| 2023 | 25 | -46.8% | |
| 2024* | 13 | — | |
| 2025 | 33 | — |
* Well below Nowthen'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 5 building fires Nowthen departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 36 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 6 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 5 | 13.9% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 11.1% |
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 Nowthen mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 13.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 19.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Nowthen departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Nowthen sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 26,594 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 | 15.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 16.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 1,737 | 45.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,460 | 46.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 13.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,250 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 835 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 710 | 45.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 680 | 46.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 640 | 40.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 600 | 45.1 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 Nowthen. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Nowthen.
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.