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2025 County Report

Fires in Rock County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Rock County responded to 57 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss.

7,122 residents FIPS 27133 11 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
57
246 across 5 years
Building fires
18
18 wildland
Property loss
$1.9M
$1.8M structure · $104K 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 83% of all calls.

57
Total Incidents
Building fires 18 31.6%
Grass fire 13 22.8%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 6 10.5%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 5 8.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 5 8.8%
All other categories 10 17.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Rock County?

Apr peaks. Jul dips.

Jan 6
Feb 7
Mar 5
Apr 13
May 5
Jun 6
Jul 1
Aug 2
Sep 2
Oct 4
Nov 4
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Rock County

246 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 48
2022 65
2023 63
2024 13
2025 57
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 18 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
79%
15
Cause undetermined
5%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
5%
1
Under investigation
5%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
6%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.8M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Rock County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 99% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,000,000 Luverne Building fires Major
2 $450,000 Luverne Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
3 $100,000 Luverne Building fires Significant
4 $50,000 Luverne Building fires Significant
5 $48,000 Steen Building fires Significant
6 $40,000 Magnolia Building fires Significant
7 $30,000 Luverne Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $25,000 Luverne Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
9 $25,000 City of Magnolia Building fires Significant
10 $20,000 Luverne Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
06 How Rock County compares

Rock County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

8
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Rock County
8
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
2.53
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Rock County
2.53
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Rock County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Rock County

11 cities mapped to FIPS 27133.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Rock County

6 departments report from this county.

LUVERNE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 67105 34 incidents
HILLS FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 67103 11 incidents
HARDWICK FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 67102 6 incidents
MAGNOLIA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 67106 2 incidents
BEAVER CREEK FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 67101 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.