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2025 County Report

Fires in Burke County, ND

In 2025, fire departments serving Burke County responded to 22 fire and hazmat incidents. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

981 residents FIPS 38013 16 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
22
177 across 5 years
Building fires
2
6 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?

Passenger vehicle fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.

22
Total Incidents
Passenger vehicle fire 3 13.6%
Grass fire 3 13.6%
Building fires 2 9.1%
Road freight or transport vehicle fire 2 9.1%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 2 9.1%
All other categories 10 45.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Burke County?

May peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 2
Feb 0
Mar 4
Apr 3
May 5
Jun 3
Jul 1
Aug 3
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Burke County

177 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 58
2022 26
2023 30
2024 41
2025 22
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
31%
5
Cause undetermined
6%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
56%
9
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
1
06 How Burke County compares

Burke County vs ND vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

22.43
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Burke County
22.43
ND avg
7.91
US avg
7.15
2.04
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Burke County
2.04
ND avg
0.77
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Burke County
0
ND avg
11.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Burke County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 38013.

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.