In 2025, fire departments across Minnesota responded to 35,021 fire and hazmat incidents — including the Greenwood wildfire that burned 26,829 acres in 2021.
Minnesota ranks #20 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 52% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Jul peaks across the window; Feb dips.
168,932 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 33,726 | |
| 2022 | 35,690 | |
| 2023 | 33,871 | |
| 2024 | 30,624 | |
| 2025 | 35,021 |
For the 5,123 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Combined NFIRS + FPA-FOD totals across the available reporting window. Click a cause to see how it plays out nationwide.
| # | Cause | Incidents | FOD vs NFIRS | Acres | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Debris & open burning | 17,398 | 17,398 / 0 | 308,119 | |
| 2 | Arson / incendiarism | 16,740 | 12,940 / 3,800 | 466,956 | |
| 3 | Undetermined / missing | 16,223 | 7,113 / 9,110 | 181,248 | |
| 4 | Equipment & vehicle use | 7,593 | 3,641 / 3,952 | 30,767 | |
| 5 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 3,544 | 3,544 / 0 | 5,692 | |
| 6 | Recreation & ceremony | 2,171 | 2,171 / 0 | 99,737 | |
| 7 | Natural (lightning) | 1,813 | 1,047 / 766 | 156,431 | |
| 8 | Railroad operations | 1,407 | 1,407 / 0 | 11,785 | |
| 9 | Other causes | 989 | 143 / 846 | 281 | |
| 10 | Smoking | 982 | 982 / 0 | 2,896 | |
| 11 | Power generation / utility | 492 | 492 / 0 | 1,518 | |
| 12 | Fireworks | 191 | 191 / 0 | 416 |
Topical groupings of NFIRS incident types — building, cooking, electrical, vehicle, and more. Each links to its national rollup.
| # | Topic | Incidents | Loss | Deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Building fires | 40,188 | $931.7M | 102 | |
| 2 | Gas leaks | 38,526 | $65K | 0 | |
| 3 | Outdoor fires | 34,779 | $6.4M | 0 | |
| 4 | Electrical / wiring | 25,126 | $1.9M | 0 | |
| 5 | Wildland fires | 17,042 | $5.1M | 0 | |
| 6 | Vehicle fires | 11,765 | $155.8M | 24 | |
| 7 | Cooking-related | 10,581 | $1.1M | 0 | |
| 8 | Rubbish / refuse | 8,923 | $2.4M | 0 | |
| 9 | Arson | 1,341 | $1.7M | 2 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 11% of Minnesota's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $7,000,000 | City of Howard Lake | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 2 | $3,800,000 | DULUTH | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $2,000,000 | Saint Paul | Rail vehicle fire | Major |
| 4 | $2,000,000 | Savage | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $1,836,000 | Wabasha | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $1,600,000 | City of Alexandria | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $1,542,800 | Cass Lake | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $1,500,000 | Floodwood | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $1,500,000 | Cokato | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $1,250,000 | City of Cannon Falls | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare Minnesota apples-to-apples to the national average.
12 largest reporting cities by population.
Top 10 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.
| # | County | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hennepin County | 7,832 | 1,273,013 |
| 2 | Ramsey County | 5,270 | 532,793 |
| 3 | Anoka County | 2,213 | 359,651 |
| 4 | Dakota County | 1,924 | 422,207 |
| 5 | St. Louis County | 1,836 | 154,822 |
| 6 | Washington County | 1,539 | 255,935 |
| 7 | Stearns County | 985 | 137,585 |
| 8 | Scott County | 702 | 136,708 |
| 9 | Olmsted County | 601 | 139,036 |
| 10 | Wright County | 554 | 110,222 |
Top 10 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.
| # | County | Inc / 1k | Incidents | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Louis County | 11.86 | 1,836 | 154,822 | |
| 2 | Ramsey County | 9.89 | 5,270 | 532,793 | |
| 3 | Rice County | 8.93 | 476 | 53,282 | |
| 4 | Blue Earth County | 8.46 | 473 | 55,926 | |
| 5 | Stearns County | 7.16 | 985 | 137,585 | |
| 6 | Anoka County | 6.15 | 2,213 | 359,651 | |
| 7 | Hennepin County | 6.15 | 7,832 | 1,273,013 | |
| 8 | Washington County | 6.01 | 1,539 | 255,935 | |
| 9 | Clay County | 5.72 | 326 | 56,952 | |
| 10 | Carver County | 5.40 | 527 | 97,612 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
575 perimeters and 133,617 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 1 | 193 | |
| 1990s | 2 | 3 | |
| 2000s | 1 | 0 | |
| 2010s | 241 | 55,090 | |
| 2020s | 330 | 78,331 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by decade, broken down by cause category. Each row sums to the decade's total; the bars show the share each cause contributed.
| Decade | Total fires | Share by cause |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 15,485 | |
| 2000s | 19,704 | |
| 2010s | 14,482 | |
| 2020s | 1,403 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 51,074 ignitions total.
1,101 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 5-year window. Age and gender are coarse-binned for privacy.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 37 | |
| 10-19 | 24 | |
| 20-29 | 148 | |
| 30-39 | 276 | |
| 40-49 | 241 | |
| 50-59 | 191 | |
| 60-69 | 102 | |
| 70-79 | 55 | |
| 80+ | 22 |
State totals reflect incidents reported by fire departments to NFIRS for 2025. The 5-year totals span 2021 through 2025. Wildfire perimeters and decade-by-decade counts are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History service. NFIRS reporting is voluntary, so totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.