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2025 County Report

Fires in Swift County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Swift County responded to 46 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $25K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

6,274 residents FIPS 27151 9 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
46
225 across 5 years
Building fires
15
14 wildland
Property loss
$207K
$85K structure · $122K 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 72% of all calls.

46
Total Incidents
Building fires 15 32.6%
Grass fire 8 17.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 5 10.9%
Passenger vehicle fire 3 6.5%
Fire, other 2 4.3%
All other categories 13 28.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Swift County?

Apr peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 4
Feb 0
Mar 5
Apr 10
May 6
Jun 3
Jul 8
Aug 0
Sep 0
Oct 7
Nov 3
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Swift County

225 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 37
2022 43
2023 52
2024 47
2025 46
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 15 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
85%
11
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
15%
2
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $85K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $25,000 Benson Building fires Significant
2 $15,000 Benson Building fires Significant
3 $10,000 Benson Outside equipment fire Significant
4 $10,000 Benson Grass fire Significant
5 $10,000 Benson Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $8,000 Benson Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $5,000 Benson Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue Significant
8 $2,000 Benson Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
9 $1 Appleton Building fires Significant
10 $1 Danvers Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Swift County compares

Swift County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

7.33
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Swift County
7.33
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
2.39
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Swift County
2.39
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Swift County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Swift County

9 cities mapped to FIPS 27151.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Swift County

7 departments report from this county.

BENSON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 76102 21 incidents
DANVERS FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 76104 10 incidents
APPLETON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 76101 5 incidents
DEGRAFF FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 76105 4 incidents
CLONTARF FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 76103 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.