In 2025, fire departments serving Woodbury responded to 270 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $406K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
May peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
799 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $4.0M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 169 | — | |
| 2022 | 146 | -13.6% | |
| 2023 | 176 | +20.5% | |
| 2024* | 38 | — | |
| 2025 | 270 | — |
* Well below Woodbury'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 73 building fires Woodbury departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 171 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 | 35 | 20.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 31 | 18.1% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 13 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 13 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 8 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Other | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 37 | 21.6% |
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 Woodbury mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 78 | 45.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 32 | 18.7% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 10 | 5.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 4.1% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 6 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 4 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 17 | 9.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Woodbury departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $406,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $36,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $7,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Woodbury sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 16,403 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 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,550 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,000 | 15.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 420 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 336 | 31.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 306 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 260 | 17.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 248 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 46.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 217 | 22.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 18.3 mi |
Top 5 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 Woodbury. 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.