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2025 County Report

Fires in Aurora County, SD

In 2025, fire departments serving Aurora County responded to 7 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $40K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

1,294 residents FIPS 46003 5 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
7
36 across 5 years
Building fires
1
2 wildland
Property loss
$86K
$45K structure · $41K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Fire, other lead by count. Top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.

7
Total Incidents
Fire, other 2 28.6%
Grass fire 2 28.6%
Building fires 1 14.3%
Cooking fire, confined to container 1 14.3%
Passenger vehicle fire 1 14.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Aurora County?

Apr peaks. Jan dips.

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

Year over year in Aurora County

36 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 11
2022 13
2023 2
2024 3
2025 7
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 1 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
25%
1
Cause undetermined
50%
2
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
25%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $45K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Aurora County during 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $40,000 White Lake Fire, other Significant
2 $5,000 Plankinton Building fires Significant
06 How Aurora County compares

Aurora County vs SD vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

5.41
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Aurora County
5.41
SD avg
5.75
US avg
7.15
0.77
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Aurora County
0.77
SD avg
0.72
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Aurora County
0
SD avg
7.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Aurora County

5 cities mapped to FIPS 46003.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Aurora County

3 departments report from this county.

Plankinton
Plankinton
FDID 10001 4 incidents 21 vol
White Lake
White Lake
FDID 10003 1 incidents 27 vol
Stickney
Stickney
FDID 10002 0 incidents 21 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in SD

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Jasper 2000 NPS 82,295
2 Cottonwood CA 2016 USFS 41,370
3 Power Dam Road 2024 BIA 15,319
4 INDIAN CANYON 2016 USFS 14,297
5 Casino 2022 BIA 12,636
6 Myrtle 2012 NPS 9,944
7 Turkey Day 2022 BIA 5,945
8 Cold Brook WF 2015 NPS 5,444
9 SHIRTTAIL 1991 NPS 3,750
10 BENT RIM 2020 BIA 3,625

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.