In 2025, fire departments serving Silver Lake responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 92% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
69 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $267K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 14 | — | |
| 2022 | 17 | +21.4% | |
| 2023 | 20 | +17.6% | |
| 2024* | 5 | — | |
| 2025 | 13 | — |
* Well below Silver Lake'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 Silver Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 22 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 | 9 | 40.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 4 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Structural area, other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 1 | 4.5% |
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 Silver Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 54.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 4 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 13.6% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 4.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Silver Lake departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Silver Lake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,186 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 46.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 46.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 264 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 48.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 231 | 48.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 229 | 48.8 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 225 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 217 | 24.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 46.0 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 | 55381 | 69 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Silver Lake. 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.