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2025 County Report

Fires in Douglas County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Douglas County responded to 133 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.6M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

19,050 residents FIPS 27041 17 cities · 11 fire depts
Total incidents
133
684 across 5 years
Building fires
29
32 wildland
Property loss
$4.1M
$3.3M structure · $740K 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 70% of all calls.

133
Total Incidents
Building fires 29 21.8%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 25 18.8%
Grass fire 22 16.5%
Passenger vehicle fire 9 6.8%
Cooking fire, confined to container 8 6.0%
All other categories 40 30.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Douglas County?

Apr peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 7
Feb 5
Mar 6
Apr 19
May 13
Jun 12
Jul 10
Aug 14
Sep 9
Oct 15
Nov 18
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Douglas County

684 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 156
2022 164
2023 86
2024 145
2025 133
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 29 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
62%
24
Cause undetermined
10%
4
Intentional / arson
5%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
23%
9
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Douglas County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 98% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,600,000 City of Alexandria Building fires Major
2 $625,000 City of Alexandria Building fires Major
3 $300,000 Osakis Building fires Major
4 $250,000 City of Alexandria Building fires Major
5 $231,000 City of Alexandria Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 City of Alexandria Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 Spruce Center Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle Significant
8 $30,000 City of Alexandria Building fires Significant
9 $30,000 Osakis Building fires Significant
10 $25,000 Osakis Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
06 How Douglas County compares

Douglas County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.98
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Douglas County
6.98
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
1.52
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Douglas County
1.52
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Douglas County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Douglas County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 27041.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Douglas County

11 departments report from this county.

ALEXANDRIA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 21101 67 incidents
OSAKIS FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 21111 23 incidents
EVANSVILLE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 21104 11 incidents
GARFIELD FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 21106 10 incidents
MILTONA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 21110 9 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.