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2025 County Report

Fires in Pope County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Pope County responded to 68 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $10K property loss.

5,196 residents FIPS 27121 11 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
68
389 across 5 years
Building fires
11
19 wildland
Property loss
$15K
$10K structure · $5K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Grass fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.

68
Total Incidents
Grass fire 16 23.5%
Building fires 11 16.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 8 11.8%
Power line down 8 11.8%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 5 7.4%
All other categories 20 29.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Pope County?

Apr peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 2
Feb 5
Mar 5
Apr 12
May 6
Jun 5
Jul 11
Aug 5
Sep 5
Oct 9
Nov 3
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Pope County

389 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 86
2022 109
2023 85
2024 41
2025 68
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 11 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
46%
6
Cause undetermined
8%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
23%
3
Under investigation
15%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
8%
1
05 The biggest fires

3 fires · $10K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Pope County during 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $10,000 Glenwood Grass fire Significant
2 $1 City of Glenwood Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $1 City of Starbuck Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
06 How Pope County compares

Pope County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.09
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Pope County
13.09
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
2.12
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Pope County
2.12
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Pope County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Pope County

11 cities mapped to FIPS 27121.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Pope County

6 departments report from this county.

GLENWOOD FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 61102 30 incidents
STARBUCK FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 61104 22 incidents
LOWRY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 61103 13 incidents
CYRUS FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 61101 0 incidents
VILLARD FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 61105 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.