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2025 County Report

Fires in Chisago County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Chisago County responded to 419 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.2M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

38,484 residents FIPS 27025 18 cities · 11 fire depts
Total incidents
419
1,886 across 5 years
Building fires
86
79 wildland
Property loss
$9.4M
$5.4M structure · $4.0M contents
Casualties
2 / 5
2 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 5 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.

419
Total Incidents
Building fires 86 20.5%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 70 16.7%
Grass fire 42 10.0%
Carbon monoxide incident 41 9.8%
Power line down 34 8.1%
All other categories 146 34.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Chisago County?

May peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 43
Feb 26
Mar 42
Apr 30
May 66
Jun 30
Jul 57
Aug 37
Sep 35
Oct 31
Nov 17
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Chisago County

1,886 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 330
2022 397
2023 362
2024 378
2025 419
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 86 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
51%
41
Cause undetermined
12%
10
Intentional / arson
2%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
11
Under investigation
15%
12
Act of nature (lightning)
6%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $4.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Chisago County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 82% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,200,000 Shafer Building fires Major
2 $1,000,000 taylors falls Building fires Major
3 $500,000 North Branch Building fires Major
4 $471,500 Taylors Falls Building fires Major
5 $350,000 North Branch Building fires Major
6 $250,000 taylors falls Fires in structures other than in a building Major
7 $200,000 Rush City Building fires Significant
8 $150,000 Shafer Building fires Significant
9 $150,000 North Branch Building fires Significant
10 $125,000 North Branch Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
06 How Chisago County compares

Chisago County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.89
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Chisago County
10.89
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
2.23
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Chisago County
2.23
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
52
Civilian fire deaths per million
Chisago County
52
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Chisago County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 27025.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Chisago County

11 departments report from this county.

NORTH BRANCH FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 13106 91 incidents
WYOMING FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 13111 62 incidents
STACY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 13109 48 incidents
RUSH CITY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 13107 43 incidents
LINDSTROM FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 13105 37 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.