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2025 County Report

Fires in Denali Borough, AK

In 2025, fire departments serving Denali Borough responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $50K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

1,998 residents FIPS 02068 10 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
15
90 across 5 years
Building fires
2
7 wildland
Property loss
$171K
$86K structure · $85K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.

15
Total Incidents
Forest, woods or wildland fire 4 26.7%
Building fires 2 13.3%
Fires in structures other than in a building 1 6.7%
Cooking fire, confined to container 1 6.7%
Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other 1 6.7%
All other categories 6 40.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Denali Borough?

Jul peaks. Apr dips.

Jan 1
Feb 1
Mar 1
Apr 0
May 1
Jun 3
Jul 6
Aug 2
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Denali Borough

90 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 21
2022 17
2023 12
2024 25
2025 15
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
62%
5
Cause undetermined
12%
1
Intentional / arson
12%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
14%
1
05 The biggest fires

3 fires · $86K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $50,000 Anderson Outside storage fire Significant
2 $35,000 Cantwell Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
3 $1,000 Cantwell Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
06 How Denali Borough compares

Denali Borough vs AK vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

7.51
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Denali Borough
7.51
AK avg
8.42
US avg
7.15
1
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Denali Borough
1
AK avg
1.2
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Denali Borough
0
AK avg
19.5
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Denali Borough

10 cities mapped to FIPS 02068.

09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in AK

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 832015 1988 AFS 558,928
2 Minto Flats South 2009 DVF 534,911
3 FYU NE 85 1990 BLM 433,768
4 BEAR CREEK 1977 AFS 374,389
5 Simels 1997 BLM 347,860
6 Big Creek Two 2015 BLM 312,918
7 BTTS S 40 1990 BLM 289,913
8 032018 1990 BLM 287,704
9 832064 1988 AFS 284,466
10 Sushgitit Hills 2015 BLM 276,038

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.