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2025 County Report

Fires in Clearwater County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Clearwater County responded to 40 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

2,458 residents FIPS 27029 15 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
40
233 across 5 years
Building fires
16
12 wildland
Property loss
$336K
$228K structure · $108K 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 73% of all calls.

40
Total Incidents
Building fires 16 40.0%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 6 15.0%
Hazardous condition, other 3 7.5%
Cooking fire, confined to container 2 5.0%
Passenger vehicle fire 2 5.0%
All other categories 11 27.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Clearwater County?

May peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 3
Feb 1
Mar 3
Apr 1
May 9
Jun 8
Jul 1
Aug 3
Sep 3
Oct 4
Nov 1
Dec 3
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Clearwater County

233 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 73
2022 56
2023 41
2024 23
2025 40
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 16 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
58%
7
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
33%
4
Under investigation
8%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $227K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Clearwater County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $150,000 Shevlin Building fires Significant
2 $50,000 Clearbrook Building fires Significant
3 $10,000 Clearbrook Building fires Significant
4 $10,000 Shevlin Building fires Significant
5 $4,000 Shevlin Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $1,200 Shevlin Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $500 Clearbrook Forest, woods or wildland fire Significant
8 $500 Clearbrook Forest, woods or wildland fire Significant
9 $500 Clearbrook Forest, woods or wildland fire Significant
10 $500 Clearbrook Cooking fire, confined to container Significant
06 How Clearwater County compares

Clearwater County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

16.27
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Clearwater County
16.27
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
6.51
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Clearwater County
6.51
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Clearwater County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Clearwater County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 27029.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Clearwater County

7 departments report from this county.

CLEARBROOK FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 15102 16 incidents
SHEVLIN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 15104 14 incidents
BAGLEY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 15101 2 incidents
GONVICK FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 15103 0 incidents
Bear Creek Fire Dept
—
FDID 15105 0 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.