Home› Counties› MN› Mower County
2025 County Report

Fires in Mower County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Mower County responded to 201 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $935K property loss.

31,915 residents FIPS 27099 23 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
201
998 across 5 years
Building fires
45
28 wildland
Property loss
$3.2M
$2.0M structure · $1.1M contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 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 57% of all calls.

201
Total Incidents
Building fires 45 22.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 20 10.0%
Unauthorized burning 19 9.5%
Carbon monoxide incident 18 9.0%
Grass fire 13 6.5%
All other categories 86 42.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Mower County?

Apr peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 11
Feb 18
Mar 24
Apr 26
May 17
Jun 18
Jul 20
Aug 15
Sep 12
Oct 20
Nov 11
Dec 9
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Mower County

998 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 247
2022 194
2023 183
2024 173
2025 201
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 45 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
54%
45
Cause undetermined
12%
10
Intentional / arson
7%
6
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
10
Under investigation
4%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
11%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Mower County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 81% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $935,000 Austin Building fires Major
2 $145,000 Austin Building fires Significant
3 $140,000 Austin Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 Grand Meadow Building fires Significant
5 $90,000 Brownsdale Building fires Significant
6 $75,000 Lansing Building fires Significant
7 $40,000 Adams Building fires Significant
8 $40,000 City of Lyle Building fires Significant
9 $40,000 Austin Building fires Significant
10 $35,000 Austin Building fires Significant
06 How Mower County compares

Mower County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.3
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Mower County
6.3
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
1.41
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Mower County
1.41
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Mower County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Mower County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 27099.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Mower County

10 departments report from this county.

AUSTIN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 50202 137 incidents
GRAND MEADOW FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 50106 16 incidents
ADAMS FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 50101 14 incidents
BROWNSDALE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 50103 13 incidents
LYLE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 50108 6 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.