In 2025, fire departments serving Waconia responded to 68 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $220K 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 68% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
229 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $551K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 28 | — | |
| 2022 | 45 | +60.7% | |
| 2023* | 15 | — | |
| 2024 | 73 | — | |
| 2025 | 68 | -6.8% |
* Well below Waconia'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 9 building fires Waconia departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 26 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 | Outside area, other | 5 | 19.2% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 23.1% |
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 Waconia mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 19.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 5 | 19.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Incendiary device | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 11.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Waconia departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $220,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $14,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Waconia sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 21,231 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 | 8,513 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,909 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 45.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 1,299 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 420 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 336 | 39.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 320 | 45.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 306 | 38.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 290 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 35.8 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Waconia. 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.