In 2025, fire departments serving Scandia responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 86% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
155 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $533K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 30 | — | |
| 2022 | 41 | +36.7% | |
| 2023 | 47 | +14.6% | |
| 2024* | 9 | — | |
| 2025 | 28 | — |
* Well below Scandia'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 0 building fires Scandia 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 | 12 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 16.7% |
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 Scandia mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 19.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 4 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 4 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Match | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 11.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Scandia sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 19,891 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 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 14.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 835 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 656 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 420 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 358 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 336 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 335 | 49.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 48.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 306 | 22.7 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 Scandia. 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.