In 2025, fire departments serving Oak Grove responded to 75 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.1M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.
May peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
411 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 66 | — | |
| 2022 | 111 | +68.2% | |
| 2023 | 73 | -34.2% | |
| 2024 | 86 | +17.8% | |
| 2025 | 75 | -12.8% |
For the 35 building fires Oak Grove departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 91 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 | 19 | 20.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 15 | 16.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 5.5% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 3 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Other | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 17 | 18.7% |
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 Oak Grove mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 25 | 27.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 6 | 6.6% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 6 | 6.6% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 5 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 4.4% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 22 | 24.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Oak Grove departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,150,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $354,100 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Oak Grove sits above 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 25,955 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 | 9.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 11.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 1,737 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,460 | 47.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 835 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 710 | 48.8 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 680 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 656 | 49.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 640 | 43.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 600 | 48.5 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 Oak Grove. 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.