Home› Counties› MN› Nicollet County
2025 County Report

Fires in Nicollet County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Nicollet County responded to 58 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $220K property loss.

28,507 residents FIPS 27103 15 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
58
342 across 5 years
Building fires
13
10 wildland
Property loss
$1.3M
$956K structure · $306K 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 62% of all calls.

58
Total Incidents
Building fires 13 22.4%
Grass fire 7 12.1%
Power line down 6 10.3%
Passenger vehicle fire 5 8.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 5 8.6%
All other categories 22 37.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Nicollet County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 5
Feb 3
Mar 10
Apr 8
May 5
Jun 10
Jul 3
Aug 4
Sep 2
Oct 5
Nov 3
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Nicollet County

342 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 97
2022 34
2023 90
2024 63
2025 58
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 13 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
43%
10
Cause undetermined
9%
2
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
2
Under investigation
35%
8
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $955K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Nicollet County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $220,000 North Mankato Building fires Significant
2 $175,000 North Mankato Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
3 $150,000 Nicollet Building fires Significant
4 $130,000 North Mankato Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $130,000 North Mankato Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $120,000 Courtland Building fires Significant
7 $10,000 Nicollet Building fires Significant
8 $8,000 North Mankato Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $7,000 North Mankato Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $5,000 North Mankato Trash or rubbish fire, contained Significant
06 How Nicollet County compares

Nicollet County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

2.03
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Nicollet County
2.03
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
0.46
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Nicollet County
0.46
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
35.1
Civilian fire deaths per million
Nicollet County
35.1
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Nicollet County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 27103.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Nicollet County

5 departments report from this county.

NORTH MANKATO FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 52104 39 incidents
ST PETER FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 52105 34 incidents
NICOLLET FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 52103 21 incidents
COURTLAND FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 52101 11 incidents
LAFAYETTE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 52102 3 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.