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2025 County Report

Fires in Blaine County, MT

In 2025, fire departments serving Blaine County responded to 55 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $75K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

5,551 residents FIPS 30005 20 cities · 13 fire depts
Total incidents
55
206 across 5 years
Building fires
3
24 wildland
Property loss
$144K
$116K structure · $28K 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 58% of all calls.

55
Total Incidents
Forest, woods or wildland fire 8 14.5%
Grass fire 7 12.7%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 6 10.9%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 6 10.9%
Passenger vehicle fire 5 9.1%
All other categories 23 41.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Blaine County?

Jul peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 3
Feb 2
Mar 2
Apr 6
May 2
Jun 2
Jul 20
Aug 4
Sep 5
Oct 5
Nov 3
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Blaine County

206 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 39
2022 22
2023 38
2024 52
2025 55
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
73%
11
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
13%
2
Under investigation
13%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

6 fires · $116K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Blaine County during 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $75,000 Chinook Passenger vehicle fire Significant
2 $20,000 Harlem Building fires Significant
3 $10,000 Hogeland Natural vegetation fire, other Significant
4 $5,000 Chinook Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $5,000 Chinook Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $1,000 Chinook Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
06 How Blaine County compares

Blaine County vs MT vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.91
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Blaine County
9.91
MT avg
7.52
US avg
7.15
0.54
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Blaine County
0.54
MT avg
0.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Blaine County
0
MT avg
5.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Blaine County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 30005.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Blaine County

13 departments report from this county.

Chinook Vol Fire Department
Chinook
FDID 24001 30 incidents 24 vol
Harlem VFD
—
FDID 24002 20 incidents
Turner VFC
—
FDID 24032 4 incidents
Lone Tree VFC
—
FDID 24003 0 incidents
Gordon VFC
—
FDID 24004 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.