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2025 County Report

Fires in Isanti County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Isanti County responded to 235 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

18,350 residents FIPS 27059 28 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
235
1,067 across 5 years
Building fires
20
58 wildland
Property loss
$2.5M
$2.0M structure · $546K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.

235
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 50 21.3%
Grass fire 37 15.7%
Carbon monoxide incident 29 12.3%
Authorized controlled burning 21 8.9%
Building fires 20 8.5%
All other categories 78 33.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Isanti County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 17
Feb 16
Mar 29
Apr 27
May 27
Jun 18
Jul 14
Aug 19
Sep 17
Oct 13
Nov 23
Dec 15
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Isanti County

1,067 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 197
2022 210
2023 182
2024 243
2025 235
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 20 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
61%
25
Cause undetermined
7%
3
Intentional / arson
12%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
5
Under investigation
5%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.7M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Isanti County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 85% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 Cambridge Passenger vehicle fire Major
2 $241,600 Dalbo Building fires Significant
3 $188,750 Township of Grass La Building fires Significant
4 $152,888 Dalbo Building fires Significant
5 $150,000 Braham Building fires Significant
6 $110,000 Isanti Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 Isanti Building fires Significant
8 $94,357 Stanchfield Building fires Significant
9 $75,000 Cambridge Building fires Significant
10 $75,000 Township of Cambridg Building fires Significant
06 How Isanti County compares

Isanti County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

12.81
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Isanti County
12.81
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
1.09
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Isanti County
1.09
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Isanti County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Isanti County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 27059.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Isanti County

4 departments report from this county.

CAMBRIDGE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 30102 127 incidents
ISANTI FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 30104 89 incidents
BRAHAM FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 30105 52 incidents
DALBO FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 30103 16 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.