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2025 County Report

Fires in Jackson County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Jackson County responded to 74 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.

5,863 residents FIPS 27063 12 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
74
287 across 5 years
Building fires
15
28 wildland
Property loss
$1.3M
$1.1M structure · $224K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Grass fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 72% of all calls.

74
Total Incidents
Grass fire 21 28.4%
Building fires 15 20.3%
Road freight or transport vehicle fire 6 8.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 6 8.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 5 6.8%
All other categories 21 28.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Jackson County?

Apr peaks. Jul dips.

Jan 3
Feb 7
Mar 7
Apr 11
May 9
Jun 4
Jul 0
Aug 2
Sep 9
Oct 11
Nov 6
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Jackson County

287 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 58
2022 52
2023 52
2024 51
2025 74
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 15 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
82%
33
Cause undetermined
2%
1
Intentional / arson
5%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
5%
2
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
6%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $965K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Jackson County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 92% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 Alpha Building fires Significant
2 $200,000 Alpha Building fires Significant
3 $150,000 Jackson Building fires Significant
4 $150,000 City of Lakefield Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $100,000 Jackson Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 City of Lakefield Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
7 $50,000 City of Okabena Building fires Significant
8 $25,000 Lakefield Building fires Significant
9 $20,000 City of Lakefield Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
10 $20,000 City of Okabena Building fires Significant
06 How Jackson County compares

Jackson County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

12.62
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Jackson County
12.62
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
2.56
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Jackson County
2.56
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Jackson County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Jackson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 27063.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Jackson County

5 departments report from this county.

JACKSON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 32103 27 incidents
LAKEFIELD FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 32104 25 incidents
HERON LAKE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 32102 10 incidents
ALPHA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 32101 7 incidents
OKABENA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 32105 5 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.