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2025 County Report

Fires in Butte County, SD

In 2025, fire departments serving Butte County responded to 9 fire and hazmat incidents. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

6,618 residents FIPS 46019 11 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
9
378 across 5 years
Building fires
1
3 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?

Road freight or transport vehicle fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 89% of all calls.

9
Total Incidents
Road freight or transport vehicle fire 2 22.2%
Grass fire 2 22.2%
Accident, potential accident, other 2 22.2%
Building fires 1 11.1%
Garbage dump or sanitary landfill fire 1 11.1%
All other categories 1 11.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Butte County?

May peaks. Jan dips.

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

Year over year in Butte County

378 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 153
2022 93
2023 57
2024 66
2025 9
06 How Butte County compares

Butte County vs SD vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

1.36
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Butte County
1.36
SD avg
5.75
US avg
7.15
0.15
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Butte County
0.15
SD avg
0.72
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Butte County
0
SD avg
7.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Butte County

11 cities mapped to FIPS 46019.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Butte County

7 departments report from this county.

Butte Fire Department
Belle Fourche
FDID 15006 7 incidents 15 vol
Newell
Newell
FDID 15002 4 incidents 28 vol
Nisland
Nisland
FDID 15004 1 incidents 16 vol
Belle Fourche
Belle Fourche
FDID 15001 0 incidents 39 vol
Castle Rock
Castle Rock
FDID 15003 0 incidents 23 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.