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2025 County Report

Fires in Kanabec County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Kanabec County responded to 66 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $15K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

4,276 residents FIPS 27065 10 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
66
300 across 5 years
Building fires
27
21 wildland
Property loss
$40K
$20K structure · $20K 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 77% of all calls.

66
Total Incidents
Building fires 27 40.9%
Grass fire 16 24.2%
Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle 3 4.5%
Outside equipment fire 3 4.5%
Passenger vehicle fire 2 3.0%
All other categories 15 22.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Kanabec County?

May peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 3
Feb 8
Mar 8
Apr 7
May 10
Jun 3
Jul 10
Aug 3
Sep 3
Oct 9
Nov 2
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Kanabec County

300 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 87
2022 51
2023 55
2024 41
2025 66
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 27 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
5%
1
Cause undetermined
5%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
2
Under investigation
81%
17
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
05 The biggest fires

3 fires · $20K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Kanabec County during 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $15,000 Mora Building fires Significant
2 $5,000 Ogilvie Building fires Significant
3 $10 City of Ogilvie Building fires Significant
06 How Kanabec County compares

Kanabec County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

15.43
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Kanabec County
15.43
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
6.31
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Kanabec County
6.31
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Kanabec County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Kanabec County

10 cities mapped to FIPS 27065.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Kanabec County

3 departments report from this county.

MORA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 33102 57 incidents
OGILVIE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 33103 6 incidents
GRASSTON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 33101 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.