In 2025, fire departments serving Windom responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
125 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 20 | — | |
| 2022 | 35 | +75.0% | |
| 2023 | 23 | -34.3% | |
| 2024 | 23 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 24 | +4.3% |
For the 3 building fires Windom departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 50 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 14.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 5 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 5 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 22.0% |
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 Windom mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 15 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Cigarette | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 8 | Match | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 16.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Windom departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Windom sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,206 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 226 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 215 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 155 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 152 | 13.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 127 | 3.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 100 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 96 | 2.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 95 | 10.8 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 | 56101 | 125 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Windom. 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.