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2025 County Report

Fires in Beaverhead County, MT

In 2025, fire departments serving Beaverhead County responded to 85 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $140K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

4,627 residents FIPS 30001 28 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
85
402 across 5 years
Building fires
3
23 wildland
Property loss
$336K
$290K structure · $46K 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 61% of all calls.

85
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 22 25.9%
Grass fire 15 17.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 6 7.1%
Passenger vehicle fire 5 5.9%
Cooking fire, confined to container 4 4.7%
All other categories 33 38.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Beaverhead County?

Apr peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 9
Feb 0
Mar 6
Apr 19
May 5
Jun 8
Jul 4
Aug 8
Sep 5
Oct 5
Nov 10
Dec 6
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Beaverhead County

402 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 80
2022 77
2023 68
2024 92
2025 85
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
56%
10
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
6%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
39%
7
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
05 The biggest fires

3 fires · $290K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $140,000 Dillon Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
2 $75,000 DILLON Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
3 $75,000 Dillon Building fires Significant
06 How Beaverhead County compares

Beaverhead County vs MT vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

18.37
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Beaverhead County
18.37
MT avg
7.52
US avg
7.15
0.65
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Beaverhead County
0.65
MT avg
0.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Beaverhead County
0
MT avg
5.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Beaverhead County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 30001.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Beaverhead County

8 departments report from this county.

Dillon RFD
DILLON
FDID 18011 56 incidents 32 vol
Dillon Fire Hall
DILLON
FDID 18001 26 incidents 32 vol
Lima VFD
—
FDID 18002 0 incidents
Grant VFC
—
FDID 18012 0 incidents
Wisdom RFD
—
FDID 18031 0 incidents
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in MT

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Lodgepole Complex 2017 BLM 271,420
2 Derby 2006 USFS 207,237
3 Rice Ridge 2017 USFS 160,001
4 Pine Ridge Complex 2006 BLM 114,655
5 Dunn Mountain 2008 BLM 102,324
6 SartinDraw 2017 USFS 99,713
7 TaylorCreek 2012 USFS 62,148
8 Trail Creek 2021 USFS 62,012
9 Stag 2000 USFS 61,727
10 StormCreek 1988 USFS 58,721

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.