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2025 County Report

Fires in Mahnomen County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Mahnomen County responded to 37 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

2,738 residents FIPS 27087 12 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
37
205 across 5 years
Building fires
19
8 wildland
Property loss
$656K
$428K structure · $229K 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 89% of all calls.

37
Total Incidents
Building fires 19 51.4%
Passenger vehicle fire 6 16.2%
Grass fire 4 10.8%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 2 5.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 2 5.4%
All other categories 4 10.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Mahnomen County?

Mar peaks. Jun dips.

Jan 4
Feb 2
Mar 7
Apr 5
May 4
Jun 0
Jul 0
Aug 0
Sep 1
Oct 5
Nov 3
Dec 6
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Mahnomen County

205 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 51
2022 34
2023 58
2024 25
2025 37
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 19 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
42%
5
Cause undetermined
8%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
1
Under investigation
42%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $424K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Mahnomen County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 99% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 Mahnomen Building fires Significant
2 $70,000 Waubun Building fires Significant
3 $40,000 Waubun Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
4 $30,000 Waubun Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $25,000 Mahnomen Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $20,000 Mahnomen Building fires Significant
7 $15,000 Mahnomen Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $15,000 City of Waubun Building fires Significant
9 $5,000 Mahnomen Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $4,000 Waubun Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Mahnomen County compares

Mahnomen County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.51
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Mahnomen County
13.51
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
6.94
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Mahnomen County
6.94
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Mahnomen County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Mahnomen County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 27087.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Mahnomen County

4 departments report from this county.

MAHNOMEN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 44102 16 incidents
WAUBUN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 44103 12 incidents
TWIN LAKES VOL FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 44104 12 incidents
ELBOWTULABY LAKES FD
—
FDID 44105 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.