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2025 County Report

Fires in Beltrami County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Beltrami County responded to 277 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $400K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

21,659 residents FIPS 27007 39 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
277
1,169 across 5 years
Building fires
32
42 wildland
Property loss
$3.6M
$2.6M structure · $1.1M contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.

277
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 49 17.7%
Building fires 32 11.6%
Power line down 25 9.0%
Unauthorized burning 22 7.9%
Passenger vehicle fire 18 6.5%
All other categories 131 47.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Beltrami County?

Jun peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 15
Feb 15
Mar 16
Apr 21
May 35
Jun 76
Jul 33
Aug 13
Sep 12
Oct 17
Nov 22
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Beltrami County

1,169 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 285
2022 215
2023 196
2024 196
2025 277
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 32 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
48%
30
Cause undetermined
10%
6
Intentional / arson
3%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
16%
10
Under investigation
19%
12
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Beltrami County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 76% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $400,000 City of Bemidji Building fires Major
2 $350,000 Bemidji Building fires Major
3 $250,000 City of Blackduck Passenger vehicle fire Major
4 $250,000 Bemidji Building fires Major
5 $150,000 Bemidji Building fires Significant
6 $143,800 Bemidji Building fires Significant
7 $120,700 Bemidji Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 Hines Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
9 $100,000 Bemidji Building fires Significant
10 $100,000 Bemidji Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
06 How Beltrami County compares

Beltrami County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

12.79
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Beltrami County
12.79
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
1.48
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Beltrami County
1.48
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Beltrami County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Beltrami County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 27007.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Beltrami County

6 departments report from this county.

BEMIDJI FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 04305 240 incidents
BLACKDUCK FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 04106 23 incidents
KELLIHER FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 04103 17 incidents
ALASKA
—
FDID 04101 3 incidents
SOLWAY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 04104 2 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.