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2025 County Report

Fires in Davison County, SD

In 2025, fire departments serving Davison County responded to 166 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

16,408 residents FIPS 46035 6 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
166
621 across 5 years
Building fires
10
34 wildland
Property loss
$699K
$455K structure · $244K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.

166
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 32 19.3%
Fire, other 18 10.8%
Grass fire 13 7.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 11 6.6%
Building fires 10 6.0%
All other categories 82 49.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Davison County?

Jul peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 9
Feb 24
Mar 21
Apr 22
May 23
Jun 14
Jul 30
Aug 8
Sep 10
Oct 3
Nov 0
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Davison County

621 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 60
2022 125
2023 132
2024 138
2025 166
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 10 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
60%
35
Cause undetermined
17%
10
Intentional / arson
12%
7
Equipment / heat source failure
5%
3
Under investigation
3%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $405K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Davison County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 89% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 Mitchell Building fires Significant
2 $80,000 Mitchell Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
3 $50,000 Mitchell Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
4 $40,000 Mitchell Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire Significant
5 $35,000 Mitchell Building fires Significant
6 $30,000 Mitchell Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $30,000 Mitchell Building fires Significant
8 $15,000 Mitchell Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
9 $15,000 Mitchell Building fires Significant
10 $10,000 Mitchell Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
06 How Davison County compares

Davison County vs SD vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.12
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Davison County
10.12
SD avg
5.75
US avg
7.15
0.61
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Davison County
0.61
SD avg
0.72
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Davison County
0
SD avg
7.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Davison County

6 cities mapped to FIPS 46035.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Davison County

4 departments report from this county.

Mitchell Fire Division
MITCHELL
FDID 08101 130 incidents 22 paid
Mt Vernon
Mt Vernon
FDID 08003 18 incidents
Ethan
Ethan
FDID 08002 13 incidents 15 vol
Mitchell Rural
MITCHELL
FDID 08001 0 incidents 22 paid
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.