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2025 County Report

Fires in Brown County, SD

In 2025, fire departments serving Brown County responded to 204 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

32,005 residents FIPS 46013 29 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
204
928 across 5 years
Building fires
18
12 wildland
Property loss
$1.3M
$947K structure · $394K contents
Casualties
1 / 0
1 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.

204
Total Incidents
Carbon monoxide incident 32 15.7%
Power line down 30 14.7%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 29 14.2%
Building fires 18 8.8%
Grass fire 10 4.9%
All other categories 85 41.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Brown County?

Nov peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 1
Feb 22
Mar 17
Apr 16
May 26
Jun 11
Jul 17
Aug 26
Sep 13
Oct 26
Nov 27
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Brown County

928 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 215
2022 221
2023 133
2024 155
2025 204
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 18 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
60%
39
Cause undetermined
14%
9
Intentional / arson
14%
9
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
4
Under investigation
5%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $908K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Brown County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 96% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 Aberdeen Building fires Major
2 $250,000 Aberdeen Building fires Major
3 $150,000 Westport Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 BathTownship of Building fires Significant
5 $30,000 Aberdeen Building fires Significant
6 $25,000 Aberdeen Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $18,000 Aberdeen Gasoline or other flammable liquid spill Significant
8 $15,000 Aberdeen Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $10,000 Hecla Vehicle accident, general cleanup Significant
10 $10,000 Mansfield Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
06 How Brown County compares

Brown County vs SD vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.37
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Brown County
6.37
SD avg
5.75
US avg
7.15
0.56
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Brown County
0.56
SD avg
0.72
US avg
0.82
31.2
Civilian fire deaths per million
Brown County
31.2
SD avg
7.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Brown County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 46013.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Brown County

10 departments report from this county.

Aberdeen
—
FDID 03101 169 incidents 39 paid
Groton
Groton
FDID 03006 15 incidents 29 vol
Aberdeen Rural
Aberdeen
FDID 03001 8 incidents 28 vol
Stratford
Stratford
FDID 03008 4 incidents 23 vol
Warner
Warner
FDID 03009 4 incidents 25 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in SD

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Jasper 2000 NPS 82,295
2 Cottonwood CA 2016 USFS 41,370
3 Power Dam Road 2024 BIA 15,319
4 INDIAN CANYON 2016 USFS 14,297
5 Casino 2022 BIA 12,636
6 Myrtle 2012 NPS 9,944
7 Turkey Day 2022 BIA 5,945
8 Cold Brook WF 2015 NPS 5,444
9 SHIRTTAIL 1991 NPS 3,750
10 BENT RIM 2020 BIA 3,625

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.