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2025 County Report

Fires in Martin County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Martin County responded to 80 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss.

15,144 residents FIPS 27091 14 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
80
431 across 5 years
Building fires
17
17 wildland
Property loss
$2.2M
$1.8M structure · $390K contents
Casualties
1 / 1
1 civ deaths · 1 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 68% of all calls.

80
Total Incidents
Building fires 17 21.2%
Grass fire 11 13.8%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 11 13.8%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 8 10.0%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 7 8.8%
All other categories 26 32.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Martin County?

Oct peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 4
Feb 8
Mar 13
Apr 6
May 7
Jun 5
Jul 1
Aug 0
Sep 11
Oct 14
Nov 7
Dec 4
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Martin County

431 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 91
2022 93
2023 59
2024 108
2025 80
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 17 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
90%
28
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
2
Under investigation
3%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.7M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Martin County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 94% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 Fairmont Building fires Major
2 $400,000 Granada Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
3 $250,000 City of Fairmont Building fires Major
4 $200,000 City of Dunnell Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
5 $90,000 Fairmont Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
6 $75,000 Fairmont Building fires Significant
7 $40,000 Granada Building fires Significant
8 $40,000 Granada Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
9 $40,000 City of Sherburn Building fires Significant
10 $30,000 Dunnell Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
06 How Martin County compares

Martin County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

5.28
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Martin County
5.28
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
1.12
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Martin County
1.12
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
66
Civilian fire deaths per million
Martin County
66
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Martin County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 27091.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Martin County

9 departments report from this county.

FAIRMONT FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 46103 55 incidents
SHERBURN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 46106 14 incidents
DUNNELL FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 46102 4 incidents
TRUMAN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 46108 4 incidents
CEYLON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 46101 2 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.