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2025 County Report

Fires in Houston County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Houston County responded to 97 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $455K property loss.

12,166 residents FIPS 27055 22 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
97
427 across 5 years
Building fires
25
20 wildland
Property loss
$1.0M
$697K structure · $321K 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 64% of all calls.

97
Total Incidents
Building fires 25 25.8%
Carbon monoxide incident 12 12.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 10 10.3%
Grass fire 8 8.2%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 7 7.2%
All other categories 35 36.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Houston County?

Mar peaks. Jun dips.

Jan 11
Feb 4
Mar 14
Apr 9
May 9
Jun 3
Jul 12
Aug 6
Sep 6
Oct 6
Nov 12
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Houston County

427 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 80
2022 86
2023 87
2024 77
2025 97
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 25 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
48%
14
Cause undetermined
17%
5
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
21%
6
Under investigation
10%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $696K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $455,000 City of Houston Building fires Major
2 $75,000 La Crescent Building fires Significant
3 $55,000 City of Houston Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
4 $40,000 Township of Mound Pr Building fires Significant
5 $40,000 Township of Mound Pr Building fires Significant
6 $20,000 Township of La Cresc Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
7 $5,000 Houston Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle Significant
8 $3,000 Hokah Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $1,500 Money Creek Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
10 $1,200 La Crescent Building fires Significant
06 How Houston County compares

Houston County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

7.97
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Houston County
7.97
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
2.05
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Houston County
2.05
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Houston County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Houston County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 27055.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Houston County

7 departments report from this county.

LACRESCENT FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 28106 33 incidents
CALEDONIA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 28102 21 incidents
SPRING GROVE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 28107 15 incidents
EITZEN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 28103 14 incidents
HOUSTON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 28105 13 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.