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2025 County Report

Fires in Carver County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Carver County responded to 527 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $487K property loss.

97,612 residents FIPS 27019 22 cities · 12 fire depts
Total incidents
527
2,361 across 5 years
Building fires
88
76 wildland
Property loss
$2.4M
$1.7M structure · $687K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 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 58% of all calls.

527
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 108 20.5%
Building fires 88 16.7%
Power line down 46 8.7%
Grass fire 34 6.5%
Flammable gas or liquid condition, other 29 5.5%
All other categories 222 42.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Carver County?

Jul peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 42
Feb 25
Mar 42
Apr 52
May 43
Jun 50
Jul 65
Aug 36
Sep 49
Oct 46
Nov 54
Dec 23
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Carver County

2,361 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 461
2022 463
2023 538
2024 372
2025 527
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 88 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
39%
35
Cause undetermined
18%
16
Intentional / arson
7%
6
Equipment / heat source failure
18%
16
Under investigation
11%
10
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
6
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.5M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Carver County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 89% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $487,027 Victoria Building fires Major
2 $300,000 Dahlgren Twp Building fires Major
3 $220,000 Waconia Building fires Significant
4 $150,150 Watertown Building fires Significant
5 $105,525 Victoria Building fires Significant
6 $75,000 Chaska Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
7 $50,000 City of Mayer Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
8 $40,000 Chaska Building fires Significant
9 $30,000 Dahlgren Twp Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
10 $30,000 Watertown Twp Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
06 How Carver County compares

Carver County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

5.4
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Carver County
5.4
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
0.9
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Carver County
0.9
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Carver County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Carver County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 27019.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Carver County

12 departments report from this county.

CHANHASSEN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 10102 127 incidents
WACONIA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 10110 81 incidents
WATERTOWN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 10111 66 incidents
NORWOODYOUNG AMERICA
—
FDID 10108 51 incidents
VICTORIA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 10109 51 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.