In 2025, fire departments serving Red Wing responded to 133 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $325K 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 64% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
705 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 149 | — | |
| 2022 | 126 | -15.4% | |
| 2023 | 162 | +28.6% | |
| 2024 | 135 | -16.7% | |
| 2025 | 133 | -1.5% |
For the 22 building fires Red Wing departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 204 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 | 45 | 22.1% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 31 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 16 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 59 | 28.9% |
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 Red Wing mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 81 | 39.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 18 | 8.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 18 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 9 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 7 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 37 | 18.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Red Wing departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $325,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $165,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $86,940 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $27,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Red Wing sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,575 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Fireworks | 390 | 45.7 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 295 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 44.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 217 | 50.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 180 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 148 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 144 | 43.4 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 | 55066 | 705 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Red Wing. 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.