In 2025, fire departments serving Springfield responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $240K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
36 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $355K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 9 | — | |
| 2022 | 6 | -33.3% | |
| 2023* | 4 | — | |
| 2024 | 6 | — | |
| 2025 | 11 | +83.3% |
* Well below Springfield'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 1 building fires Springfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 24 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 | 9 | 37.5% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 20.8% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 1 | 4.2% |
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 Springfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 3 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Springfield departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $240,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $13,000 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $662 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Springfield sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,667 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 180 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 152 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 127 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 108 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 96 | 26.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 95 | 20.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 65 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 4.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 48 | 37.2 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 | 56087 | 36 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Springfield. 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.