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2025 County Report

Fires in Carter County, OK

In 2025, fire departments serving Carter County responded to 484 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $750K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

36,497 residents FIPS 40019 31 cities · 14 fire depts
Total incidents
484
2,841 across 5 years
Building fires
33
103 wildland
Property loss
$4.8M
$2.1M structure · $2.7M contents
Casualties
1 / 2
1 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.

484
Total Incidents
Power line down 80 16.5%
Grass fire 76 15.7%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 36 7.4%
Building fires 33 6.8%
Unauthorized burning 31 6.4%
All other categories 228 47.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Carter County?

Mar peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 41
Feb 50
Mar 87
Apr 44
May 39
Jun 33
Jul 25
Aug 33
Sep 22
Oct 41
Nov 43
Dec 26
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Carter County

2,841 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 554
2022 524
2023 586
2024 693
2025 484
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 33 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
35%
51
Cause undetermined
35%
51
Intentional / arson
12%
18
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
15
Under investigation
4%
6
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.8M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Carter County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 86% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $750,000 ARDMORE Building fires Major
2 $500,000 ARDMORE Building fires Major
3 $230,000 Dickson Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 Lone Grove Building fires Significant
5 $60,000 Ardmore Building fires Significant
6 $60,000 Lone Grove Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
7 $50,000 Lone Grove Building fires Significant
8 $30,000 ARDMORE Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
9 $30,000 Lone Grove Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
10 $25,000 Lone Grove Building fires Significant
06 How Carter County compares

Carter County vs OK vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.26
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Carter County
13.26
OK avg
10.18
US avg
7.15
0.9
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Carter County
0.9
OK avg
0.91
US avg
0.82
27.4
Civilian fire deaths per million
Carter County
27.4
OK avg
6.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Carter County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 40019.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Carter County

14 departments report from this county.

Ardmore
Ardmore
FDID 10001 329 incidents 34 paid
Lone Grove
Lonegrove
FDID 10005 65 incidents 2 paid 20 vol
Criner Hills
—
FDID 10011 38 incidents 14 vol
Ratliff City
Ratliff City
FDID 10006 36 incidents 21 vol
Dickson
Dickson
FDID 10002 9 incidents 1 paid 19 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in OK

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 West 60 2018 BIA 20,304
2 CANDY CREEK 2021 BIA 18,252
3 HWY 123 2023 BIA 17,220
4 RUSH 2024 FWS 12,461
5 NORTH DRUM 2023 BIA 11,486
6 ZINK 2023 BIA 11,286
7 Biggy 2018 BIA 10,360
8 Crater Creek 2015 FWS 9,769
9 ZINK 2024 BIA 8,101
10 JAVINE 2021 BIA 7,448

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.