In 2025, fire departments serving Redwood Falls responded to 33 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K 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 82% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
102 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $771K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 8 | — | |
| 2022 | 22 | — | |
| 2023 | 19 | -13.6% | |
| 2024 | 20 | +5.3% | |
| 2025 | 33 | +65.0% |
* Well below Redwood Falls'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 3 building fires Redwood Falls departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 26 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 | 8 | 30.8% | |
| 2 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Storage area, other | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Wall assembly | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 7.7% |
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 Redwood Falls mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 19.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 3.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Redwood Falls departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $3,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,500 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $200 | Heat from short circuit (wiring), defective/worn | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Redwood Falls sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,460 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 430 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 217 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 180 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 127 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 124 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 113 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 108 | 14.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 105 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 96 | 47.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 95 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 81 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 43.0 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 | 56283 | 102 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Redwood Falls. 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.