In 2025, fire departments serving Spicer responded to 29 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $105K 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 69% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
115 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $948K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 27 | — | |
| 2022 | 20 | -25.9% | |
| 2023* | 11 | — | |
| 2024 | 28 | — | |
| 2025 | 29 | +3.6% |
* Well below Spicer'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 4 building fires Spicer departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | 10 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 5.0% |
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 Spicer mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 45.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 1 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Spicer departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $105,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $900 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Spicer sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,165 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 | 847 | 27.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 620 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 430 | 11.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 404 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 321 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 307 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 303 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 264 | 11.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 252 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 24.9 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 | 56288 | 115 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Spicer. 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.