In 2025, fire departments serving Richfield responded to 260 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $217K 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 62% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,425 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 284 | — | |
| 2022 | 326 | +14.8% | |
| 2023 | 250 | -23.3% | |
| 2024 | 305 | +22.0% | |
| 2025 | 260 | -14.8% |
For the 40 building fires Richfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 243 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 | Outside area, other | 47 | 19.3% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 37 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 35 | 14.4% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 25 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 50 | 20.6% |
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 Richfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 145 | 59.7% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 15 | 6.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 12 | 4.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 5 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 5 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 16 | 6.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Richfield departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 85% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $216,750 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $84,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $22,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Richfield sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
15 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 7 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 18,374 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 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 29.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 4.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 420 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 336 | 28.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 49.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 306 | 26.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 19.6 mi |
Top 2 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 Richfield. 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.