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2025 County Report

Fires in Kittson County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Kittson County responded to 32 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $15K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

2,290 residents FIPS 27069 17 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
32
235 across 5 years
Building fires
2
16 wildland
Property loss
$18K
$15K structure · $3K 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 62% of all calls.

32
Total Incidents
Grass fire 11 34.4%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 3 9.4%
Building fires 2 6.2%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 2 6.2%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 2 6.2%
All other categories 12 37.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Kittson County?

May peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 4
Feb 0
Mar 1
Apr 7
May 10
Jun 2
Jul 1
Aug 3
Sep 1
Oct 0
Nov 2
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Kittson County

235 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 63
2022 40
2023 50
2024 50
2025 32
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 2 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
57%
4
Cause undetermined
14%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
15%
1
05 The biggest fires

3 fires · $15K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $15,000 Hallock Passenger vehicle fire Significant
2 $50 Lake Bronson Forest, woods or wildland fire Significant
3 $1 Karlstad Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
06 How Kittson County compares

Kittson County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.97
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Kittson County
13.97
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
0.87
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Kittson County
0.87
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Kittson County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Kittson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 27069.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Kittson County

5 departments report from this county.

HALLOCK FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 35101 9 incidents
KARLSTAD FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 35102 9 incidents
LAKE BRONSON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 35104 7 incidents
LANCASTER FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 35105 6 incidents
KENNEDY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 35103 4 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.