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2025 County Report

Fires in Barnes County, ND

In 2025, fire departments serving Barnes County responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $50K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

7,616 residents FIPS 38003 24 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
20
245 across 5 years
Building fires
3
7 wildland
Property loss
$75K
$50K structure · $25K 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 75% of all calls.

20
Total Incidents
Fire, other 3 15.0%
Building fires 3 15.0%
Road freight or transport vehicle fire 3 15.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 3 15.0%
Grass fire 3 15.0%
All other categories 5 25.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Barnes County?

May peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 2
Feb 0
Mar 2
Apr 3
May 7
Jun 2
Jul 2
Aug 0
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 1
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Barnes County

245 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 58
2022 64
2023 62
2024 41
2025 20
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 3 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
58%
7
Cause undetermined
8%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
25%
3
Under investigation
8%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $50K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $50,000 Rogers Building fires Significant
2 $1 Fingal Grass fire Significant
06 How Barnes County compares

Barnes County vs ND vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

2.63
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Barnes County
2.63
ND avg
7.91
US avg
7.15
0.39
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Barnes County
0.39
ND avg
0.77
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Barnes County
0
ND avg
11.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Barnes County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 38003.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Barnes County

1 departments report from this county.

Litchville Rural Fire Dept
Litchville
FDID 02211 0 incidents 25 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in ND

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Windy 2021 USFS 16,161
2 Elkhorn 2024 USFS 10,884
3 Pautre 2013 USFS 10,679
4 LITTLE SWALLOW 2021 BIA 9,057
5 BlackHorseCreek 2006 USFS 7,830
6 Mike'SCreek 1988 USFS 5,819
7 Hwy31 & 101ST West 2022 BIA 5,289
8 Horse Pasture 2021 USFS 4,647
9 Roosevelt Creek 2021 USFS 4,580
10 RidgeRoad 2015 USFS 3,328

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.