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2025 County Report

Fires in Grant County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Grant County responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $175K property loss.

3,268 residents FIPS 27051 8 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
18
170 across 5 years
Building fires
3
5 wildland
Property loss
$385K
$335K structure · $50K 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 67% of all calls.

18
Total Incidents
Building fires 3 16.7%
Grass fire 3 16.7%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 2 11.1%
Outside equipment fire 2 11.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 2 11.1%
All other categories 6 33.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Grant County?

May peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 3
Feb 0
Mar 1
Apr 2
May 4
Jun 1
Jul 1
Aug 1
Sep 0
Oct 2
Nov 3
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Grant County

170 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 46
2022 41
2023 47
2024 18
2025 18
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 3 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
70%
7
Cause undetermined
10%
1
Intentional / arson
10%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

6 fires · $335K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Grant County during 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $175,000 Elbow Lake Outside equipment fire Significant
2 $100,000 Hoffman Building fires Significant
3 $25,000 Ashby Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
4 $25,000 Wendell Building fires Significant
5 $5,000 Wendell Cultivated grain or crop fire Significant
6 $5,000 Elbow Lake Outside equipment fire Significant
06 How Grant County compares

Grant County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

5.51
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Grant County
5.51
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
0.92
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Grant County
0.92
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Grant County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Grant County

8 cities mapped to FIPS 27051.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Grant County

7 departments report from this county.

WENDELL FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 26107 10 incidents
ASHBY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 26101 9 incidents
BARRETT FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 26102 2 incidents
HOFFMAN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 26105 1 incidents
ELBOW LAKE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 26103 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.