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2025 County Report

Fires in Norman County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Norman County responded to 65 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $50K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

4,067 residents FIPS 27107 21 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
65
209 across 5 years
Building fires
28
14 wildland
Property loss
$240K
$150K structure · $90K 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 75% of all calls.

65
Total Incidents
Building fires 28 43.1%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 6 9.2%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 6 9.2%
Grass fire 5 7.7%
Power line down 4 6.2%
All other categories 16 24.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Norman County?

May peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 4
Feb 4
Mar 2
Apr 3
May 20
Jun 5
Jul 2
Aug 14
Sep 2
Oct 3
Nov 1
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Norman County

209 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 37
2022 24
2023 55
2024 28
2025 65
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 28 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
25%
3
Cause undetermined
17%
2
Intentional / arson
50%
6
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

9 fires · $150K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Norman County during 2025. These 9 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $50,000 Ada Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
2 $50,000 City of Gary Building fires Significant
3 $15,000 City of Twin Valley Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
4 $10,000 Ada Building fires Significant
5 $10,000 City of Gary Building fires Significant
6 $5,000 Ada Building fires Significant
7 $5,000 City of Gary Forest, woods or wildland fire Significant
8 $5,000 Gary Building fires Significant
9 $1 Gary Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Norman County compares

Norman County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

15.98
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Norman County
15.98
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
6.88
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Norman County
6.88
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Norman County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Norman County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 27107.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Norman County

8 departments report from this county.

TWIN VALLEY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 54108 20 incidents
HALSTAD FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 54104 19 incidents
ADA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 54101 12 incidents
GARY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 54103 9 incidents
BORUP FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 54102 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.