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2025 County Report

Fires in Benson County, ND

In 2025, fire departments serving Benson County responded to 48 fire and hazmat incidents. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

2,317 residents FIPS 38005 24 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
48
286 across 5 years
Building fires
8
11 wildland
Property loss
$0
$0 structure · $0 contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.

48
Total Incidents
Building fires 8 16.7%
Passenger vehicle fire 8 16.7%
Grass fire 6 12.5%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 5 10.4%
Fire, other 4 8.3%
All other categories 17 35.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Benson County?

May peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 3
Feb 1
Mar 4
Apr 8
May 15
Jun 2
Jul 2
Aug 8
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 4
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Benson County

286 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 111
2022 60
2023 46
2024 21
2025 48
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 8 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
38%
14
Cause undetermined
5%
2
Intentional / arson
8%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
4
Under investigation
35%
13
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
1
06 How Benson County compares

Benson County vs ND vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

20.72
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Benson County
20.72
ND avg
7.91
US avg
7.15
3.45
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Benson County
3.45
ND avg
0.77
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Benson County
0
ND avg
11.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Benson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 38005.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Benson County

1 departments report from this county.

Spirit Lake Fire Department
Fort Totten
FDID 03395 26 incidents 1 paid 9 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.