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2025 County Report

Fires in Bowman County, ND

In 2025, fire departments serving Bowman County responded to 37 fire and hazmat incidents. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

2,220 residents FIPS 38011 8 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
37
223 across 5 years
Building fires
1
10 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?

Grass fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.

37
Total Incidents
Grass fire 9 24.3%
Fire, other 7 18.9%
Cultivated grain or crop fire 4 10.8%
Power line down 3 8.1%
Passenger vehicle fire 2 5.4%
All other categories 12 32.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Bowman County?

Jul peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 1
Feb 0
Mar 2
Apr 4
May 6
Jun 1
Jul 8
Aug 7
Sep 1
Oct 3
Nov 4
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Bowman County

223 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 57
2022 27
2023 40
2024 62
2025 37
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 1 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
85%
17
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
2
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
1
06 How Bowman County compares

Bowman County vs ND vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

16.67
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Bowman County
16.67
ND avg
7.91
US avg
7.15
0.45
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Bowman County
0.45
ND avg
0.77
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Bowman County
0
ND avg
11.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Bowman County

8 cities mapped to FIPS 38011.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Bowman County

2 departments report from this county.

Bowman Rural Fire Department
Bowman
FDID 06037 15 incidents 25 vol
Bowman Fire Department
Bowman
FDID 06036 5 incidents 24 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.