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2025 County Report

Fires in Billings County, ND

In 2025, fire departments serving Billings County responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $50K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

151 residents FIPS 38007 6 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
23
154 across 5 years
Building fires
2
12 wildland
Property loss
$75K
$75K structure · $0 contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.

23
Total Incidents
Forest, woods or wildland fire 6 26.1%
Building fires 2 8.7%
Road freight or transport vehicle fire 2 8.7%
Grass fire 2 8.7%
Special outside fire, other 2 8.7%
All other categories 9 39.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Billings County?

Aug peaks. May dips.

Jan 2
Feb 1
Mar 1
Apr 3
May 0
Jun 3
Jul 2
Aug 9
Sep 1
Oct 1
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Billings County

154 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 62
2022 20
2023 21
2024 28
2025 23
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
40%
6
Cause undetermined
7%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
40%
6
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
13%
2
05 The biggest fires

3 fires · $75K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $50,000 Medora Building fires Significant
2 $15,000 Medora Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
3 $10,000 Medora Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Billings County compares

Billings County vs ND vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

152.32
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Billings County
152.32
ND avg
7.91
US avg
7.15
13.25
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Billings County
13.25
ND avg
0.77
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Billings County
0
ND avg
11.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Billings County

6 cities mapped to FIPS 38007.

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.