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2025 County Report

Fires in Winona County, MN

In 2025, fire departments serving Winona County responded to 224 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss.

38,924 residents FIPS 27169 31 cities · 13 fire depts
Total incidents
224
1,109 across 5 years
Building fires
46
31 wildland
Property loss
$3.1M
$2.2M structure · $819K contents
Casualties
0 / 3
0 civ deaths · 3 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 52% of all calls.

224
Total Incidents
Building fires 46 20.5%
Biological hazard, confirmed or suspected 23 10.3%
Grass fire 17 7.6%
Unauthorized burning 17 7.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 13 5.8%
All other categories 108 48.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Winona County?

Jul peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 22
Feb 24
Mar 29
Apr 25
May 21
Jun 18
Jul 40
Aug 19
Sep 12
Oct 5
Nov 4
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Winona County

1,109 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 284
2022 248
2023 273
2024 80
2025 224
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 46 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
33%
17
Cause undetermined
12%
6
Intentional / arson
10%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
21%
11
Under investigation
23%
12
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Winona County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 90% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 City of Utica Building fires Major
2 $455,000 Township of Homer Building fires Major
3 $300,000 Dresbach Building fires Major
4 $250,000 Winona Building fires Major
5 $125,000 City of Dakota Building fires Significant
6 $121,700 New Hartford Building fires Significant
7 $106,300 Pickwick Building fires Significant
8 $60,000 Winona Building fires Significant
9 $50,000 Ridgeway Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
10 $50,000 Bethany Building fires Significant
06 How Winona County compares

Winona County vs MN vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

5.75
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Winona County
5.75
MN avg
7.36
US avg
7.15
1.18
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Winona County
1.18
MN avg
1.08
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Winona County
0
MN avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Winona County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 27169.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Winona County

13 departments report from this county.

WINONA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 85212 130 incidents
ST CHARLES FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 85111 20 incidents
DAKOTA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 85102 16 incidents
NODINE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 85107 16 incidents
PICKWICK AREA FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 85108 14 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.