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2025 County Report

Fires in Olmsted County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Olmsted County responded to 601 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $700K property loss.

139,036 residents FIPS 27109 24 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
601
2,830 across 5 years
Building fires
61
75 wildland
Property loss
$7.0M
$4.9M structure · $2.1M contents
Casualties
0 / 2
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.

601
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 72 12.0%
Unauthorized burning 72 12.0%
Building fires 61 10.1%
Carbon monoxide incident 54 9.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 49 8.2%
All other categories 293 48.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Olmsted County?

Jul peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 46
Feb 39
Mar 48
Apr 64
May 58
Jun 48
Jul 68
Aug 42
Sep 51
Oct 59
Nov 43
Dec 35
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Olmsted County

2,830 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 589
2022 511
2023 569
2024 560
2025 601
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 61 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
79
Cause undetermined
17%
26
Intentional / arson
6%
9
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
14
Under investigation
16%
25
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Olmsted County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 63% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $700,000 Rochester Building fires Major
2 $500,000 Rochester Passenger vehicle fire Major
3 $450,000 Rochester Building fires Major
4 $278,856 Rochester Building fires Major
5 $250,000 Rochester Building fires Major
6 $211,360 Rochester Building fires Significant
7 $190,475 Rochester Building fires Significant
8 $175,000 Rochester Building fires Significant
9 $157,270 Rochester Building fires Significant
10 $140,000 Rochester Building fires Significant
06 How Olmsted County compares

Olmsted County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.32
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Olmsted County
4.32
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
0.44
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Olmsted County
0.44
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Olmsted County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Olmsted County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 27109.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Olmsted County

7 departments report from this county.

ROCHESTER FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 55205 476 incidents
STEWARTVILLE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 55106 34 incidents
EYOTA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 55103 31 incidents
BYRON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 55107 29 incidents
DOVER FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 55102 15 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.