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2025 County Report

Fires in Dawson County, MT

In 2025, fire departments serving Dawson County responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $10K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

7,035 residents FIPS 30021 17 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
24
331 across 5 years
Building fires
1
2 wildland
Property loss
$12K
$10K structure · $2K 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 54% of all calls.

24
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 4 16.7%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 3 12.5%
Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire 2 8.3%
Power line down 2 8.3%
Unauthorized burning 2 8.3%
All other categories 11 45.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Dawson County?

Apr peaks. Sep dips.

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

Year over year in Dawson County

331 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 116
2022 80
2023 39
2024 72
2025 24
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 1 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
2
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
25%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
25%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

3 fires · $10K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Dawson County during 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $10,000 Glendive Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
2 $400 Glendive Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire Significant
3 $1 Glendive Outside rubbish fire, other Significant
06 How Dawson County compares

Dawson County vs MT vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

3.41
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Dawson County
3.41
MT avg
7.52
US avg
7.15
0.14
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Dawson County
0.14
MT avg
0.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Dawson County
0
MT avg
5.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Dawson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 30021.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Dawson County

4 departments report from this county.

Glendive Fire Department
—
FDID 16001 22 incidents
Richey VFD
—
FDID 16002 0 incidents
West Glendive RFD
—
FDID 16011 0 incidents 2 vol
Dawson Co S O
—
FDID 16099 0 incidents
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in MT

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Lodgepole Complex 2017 BLM 271,420
2 Derby 2006 USFS 207,237
3 Rice Ridge 2017 USFS 160,001
4 Pine Ridge Complex 2006 BLM 114,655
5 Dunn Mountain 2008 BLM 102,324
6 SartinDraw 2017 USFS 99,713
7 TaylorCreek 2012 USFS 62,148
8 Trail Creek 2021 USFS 62,012
9 Stag 2000 USFS 61,727
10 StormCreek 1988 USFS 58,721

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.