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2025 County Report

Fires in Broadwater County, MT

In 2025, fire departments serving Broadwater County responded to 58 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $50K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

4,533 residents FIPS 30007 18 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
58
291 across 5 years
Building fires
3
30 wildland
Property loss
$109K
$100K structure · $9K 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 59% of all calls.

58
Total Incidents
Grass fire 16 27.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 8 13.8%
Power line down 4 6.9%
Building fires 3 5.2%
Special outside fire, other 3 5.2%
All other categories 24 41.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Broadwater County?

Aug peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 1
Feb 0
Mar 2
Apr 5
May 6
Jun 6
Jul 7
Aug 12
Sep 10
Oct 2
Nov 0
Dec 7
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Broadwater County

291 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 58
2022 79
2023 38
2024 58
2025 58
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
39%
14
Cause undetermined
14%
5
Intentional / arson
14%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
25%
9
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
8%
3
05 The biggest fires

4 fires · $100K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Broadwater County during 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $50,000 Townsend Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
2 $30,000 Townsend Building fires Significant
3 $18,000 GALLATIN Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
4 $1,500 Townsend Cultivated grain or crop fire Significant
06 How Broadwater County compares

Broadwater County vs MT vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

12.8
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Broadwater County
12.8
MT avg
7.52
US avg
7.15
0.66
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Broadwater County
0.66
MT avg
0.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Broadwater County
0
MT avg
5.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Broadwater County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 30007.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Broadwater County

7 departments report from this county.

West Valley Vol Fire Rescue
Kalispell
FDID 07015 69 incidents 30 vol
Townsend
Townsend
FDID 43011 47 incidents 53 vol
Townsend City
Townsend
FDID 43001 0 incidents 17 vol
Toston
Toston
FDID 43012 0 incidents 13 vol
Winston
Winston
FDID 43013 0 incidents 9 vol
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.