In 2025, fire departments serving Stephen responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 91% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
38 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $96K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 12 | — | |
| 2022 | 6 | -50.0% | |
| 2023 | 8 | +33.3% | |
| 2024* | 1 | — | |
| 2025 | 11 | — |
* Well below Stephen'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 2 building fires Stephen departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 8 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 | 3 | 37.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Service facilities, other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 12.5% |
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 Stephen mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 12.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Stephen 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 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Stephen sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 156,047 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 28,810 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 24,945 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 15,000 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 12,680 | 41.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,000 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,700 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,500 | 28.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,140 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,100 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,440 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,854 | 36.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,800 | 40.4 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 | 56757 | 38 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Stephen. 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.