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2025 County Report

Fires in Becker County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Becker County responded to 262 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

14,329 residents FIPS 27005 25 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
262
1,205 across 5 years
Building fires
73
63 wildland
Property loss
$3.3M
$2.7M structure · $594K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.

262
Total Incidents
Building fires 73 27.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 33 12.6%
Grass fire 25 9.5%
Passenger vehicle fire 20 7.6%
Power line down 18 6.9%
All other categories 93 35.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Becker County?

May peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 8
Feb 9
Mar 13
Apr 34
May 51
Jun 23
Jul 15
Aug 17
Sep 11
Oct 38
Nov 30
Dec 13
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Becker County

1,205 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 247
2022 191
2023 238
2024 267
2025 262
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 73 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
58%
37
Cause undetermined
5%
3
Intentional / arson
11%
7
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
4
Under investigation
19%
12
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Becker County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 90% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,000,000 Frazee Building fires Major
2 $400,000 Detroit Lakes Building fires Major
3 $250,000 City of Detroit Lake Building fires Major
4 $180,000 City of Detroit Lake Building fires Significant
5 $150,000 Detroit Lakes Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 Detroit Lakes Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 City of Detroit Lake Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 Lake Park Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
9 $75,000 City of Audubon Building fires Significant
10 $75,000 Frazee Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
06 How Becker County compares

Becker County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

18.28
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Becker County
18.28
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
5.09
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Becker County
5.09
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Becker County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Becker County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 27005.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Becker County

10 departments report from this county.

DETROIT LAKES FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 03103 88 incidents
FRAZEE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 03104 41 incidents
AUDUBON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 03101 33 incidents
WOLF LAKE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 03107 30 incidents
LAKE PARK FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 03105 25 incidents
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in MN

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Greenwood 2021 USFS 26,829
2 MNGLR-FY21-WF-Oxcart 2021 FWS 12,536
3 Palsburg 2015 FWS 4,456
4 Agassiz NWR Project RX 2024 FWS 4,208
5 MNSBR-FY19-RX-UNIT 4a 6 6a 2019 FWS 2,989
6 RL 005 UNIT 8 & 9 2021 BIA 2,937
7 4 Square Mile RX 2024 FWS 2,481
8 RL 029 2018 BIA 2,360
9 Unit 8E RX 2024 FWS 2,241
10 MNSBR-FY19-RX-UNIT 7 9 11 2019 FWS 2,193

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.