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2025 County Report

Fires in Wilkin County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Wilkin County responded to 40 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss.

4,435 residents FIPS 27167 14 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
40
185 across 5 years
Building fires
7
10 wildland
Property loss
$345K
$305K structure · $40K 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 60% of all calls.

40
Total Incidents
Grass fire 9 22.5%
Building fires 7 17.5%
Road freight or transport vehicle fire 4 10.0%
Passenger vehicle fire 2 5.0%
Carbon monoxide incident 2 5.0%
All other categories 16 40.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Wilkin County?

May peaks. Jul dips.

Jan 2
Feb 2
Mar 5
Apr 6
May 8
Jun 5
Jul 1
Aug 1
Sep 3
Oct 3
Nov 2
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Wilkin County

185 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 38
2022 32
2023 46
2024 29
2025 40
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 7 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
62%
10
Cause undetermined
6%
1
Intentional / arson
25%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

6 fires · $305K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Wilkin County during 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $150,000 Rothsay Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 Rothsay Building fires Significant
3 $40,000 Breckenridge Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
4 $10,000 Rothsay Building fires Significant
5 $5,000 Rothsay Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $1 Rothsay Grass fire Significant
06 How Wilkin County compares

Wilkin County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.02
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Wilkin County
9.02
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
1.58
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Wilkin County
1.58
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Wilkin County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Wilkin County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 27167.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Wilkin County

6 departments report from this county.

ROTHSAY FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 84104 19 incidents
BRECKENRIDGE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 84101 12 incidents
CAMPBELL FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 84102 2 incidents
FOXHOME FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 84103 0 incidents
WOLVERTON FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 84105 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.