In 2025, fire departments serving Spring Grove responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 87% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
58 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $273K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 7 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | +157.1% | |
| 2023* | 4 | — | |
| 2024 | 14 | — | |
| 2025 | 15 | +7.1% |
* Well below Spring Grove'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 Spring Grove departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | 7 | 41.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 29.4% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Spring Grove mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 47.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 5.9% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Spring Grove sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,189 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 360 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 19.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 300 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 195 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 189 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 166 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 40.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 124 | 14.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 93 | 48.2 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 | 55974 | 58 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Spring Grove. 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.