Home› Counties› ID› Bear Lake County
2025 County Report

Fires in Bear Lake County, ID

In 2025, fire departments serving Bear Lake County responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $5K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

4,591 residents FIPS 16007 29 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
17
150 across 5 years
Building fires
2
1 wildland
Property loss
$9K
$7K structure · $2K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.

17
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 4 23.5%
Building fires 2 11.8%
Cooking fire, confined to container 2 11.8%
Fires in structures other than in a building 1 5.9%
Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue 1 5.9%
All other categories 7 41.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Bear Lake County?

Jun peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 0
Feb 2
Mar 1
Apr 1
May 2
Jun 6
Jul 1
Aug 1
Sep 0
Oct 2
Nov 0
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Bear Lake County

150 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 27
2022 26
2023 45
2024 35
2025 17
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 2 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
100%
1
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

3 fires · $7K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Bear Lake County during 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $5,300 Montpelier Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
2 $1,000 bennington Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire Significant
3 $200 Montpelier Cooking fire, confined to container Significant
06 How Bear Lake County compares

Bear Lake County vs ID vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

3.7
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Bear Lake County
3.7
ID avg
8.41
US avg
7.15
0.44
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Bear Lake County
0.44
ID avg
0.8
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Bear Lake County
0
ID avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Bear Lake County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 16007.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Bear Lake County

2 departments report from this county.

Montpelier Fire Department
Montpelier
FDID 07301 14 incidents
Bear Lake County Fire District
Montpelier
FDID 07333 3 incidents
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in ID

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Elk Mountain 2007 BLM 578,403
2 LONG BUTTE 2010 BLM 305,994
3 Mustang Complex 2012 USFS 287,852
4 SODA 2015 BLM 279,111
5 Diamond Pt Complex 2000 USFS 234,315
6 Pioneer 2016 USFS 188,404
7 PADDOCK 2024 BLM 187,184
8 Halstead 2012 USFS 179,308
9 Clear Creek 2000 USFS 164,755
10 Moose 2022 USFS 130,197

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.