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2025 County Report

Fires in Traverse County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Traverse County responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss.

2,043 residents FIPS 27155 8 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
13
90 across 5 years
Building fires
9
3 wildland
Property loss
$157K
$121K structure · $36K 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 100% of all calls.

13
Total Incidents
Building fires 9 69.2%
Fires in structures other than in a building 1 7.7%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 1 7.7%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 1 7.7%
Grass fire 1 7.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Traverse County?

Apr peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 0
Feb 0
Mar 1
Apr 5
May 3
Jun 0
Jul 1
Aug 0
Sep 2
Oct 1
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Traverse County

90 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 27
2022 26
2023 13
2024 11
2025 13
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 9 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
67%
4
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
17%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
17%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
05 The biggest fires

5 fires · $121K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Traverse County during 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 Browns Valley Building fires Significant
2 $10,000 City of Browns Valle Building fires Significant
3 $5,000 Browns Valley Building fires Significant
4 $5,000 Browns Valley Building fires Significant
5 $1,000 Browns Valley Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
06 How Traverse County compares

Traverse County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.36
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Traverse County
6.36
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
4.41
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Traverse County
4.41
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Traverse County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Traverse County

8 cities mapped to FIPS 27155.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Traverse County

4 departments report from this county.

BROWNS VALLEY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 78101 8 incidents
TINTAH FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 78103 1 incidents
DUMONT FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 78102 0 incidents
WHEATON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 78104 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.