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2025 County Report

Fires in Wabasha County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Wabasha County responded to 73 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.8M property loss.

14,239 residents FIPS 27157 22 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
73
357 across 5 years
Building fires
8
17 wildland
Property loss
$3.0M
$2.0M structure · $962K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 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 58% of all calls.

73
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 12 16.4%
Building fires 8 11.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 8 11.0%
Grass fire 8 11.0%
Passenger vehicle fire 6 8.2%
All other categories 31 42.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Wabasha County?

Jan peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 10
Feb 5
Mar 6
Apr 9
May 10
Jun 5
Jul 9
Aug 1
Sep 4
Oct 4
Nov 4
Dec 6
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Wabasha County

357 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 68
2022 54
2023 73
2024 89
2025 73
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 8 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
48%
10
Cause undetermined
14%
3
Intentional / arson
5%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
24%
5
Under investigation
5%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.0M in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,836,000 Wabasha Building fires Major
2 $50,000 City of Lake City Building fires Significant
3 $25,000 Elgin Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
4 $15,000 City of Lake City Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $10,000 City of Lake City Building fires Significant
6 $10,000 City of Lake City Building fires Significant
7 $8,000 City of Lake City Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $8,000 Wabasha Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $7,000 City of Lake City Water vehicle fire Significant
10 $6,100 Zumbro Falls Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Wabasha County compares

Wabasha County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

5.13
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Wabasha County
5.13
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
0.56
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Wabasha County
0.56
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Wabasha County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Wabasha County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 27157.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Wabasha County

7 departments report from this county.

LAKE CITY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 79103 40 incidents
WABASHA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 79106 17 incidents
ELGIN FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 79108 12 incidents
ZUMBRO FALLS FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 79107 10 incidents
MAZEPPA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 79104 6 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.