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2025 County Report

Fires in Gallatin County, MT

In 2025, fire departments serving Gallatin County responded to 1,153 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $3.3M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

83,858 residents FIPS 30031 56 cities · 22 fire depts
Total incidents
1,153
4,623 across 5 years
Building fires
51
137 wildland
Property loss
$11.0M
$9.6M structure · $1.4M contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.

1,153
Total Incidents
Hazardous condition, other 279 24.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 256 22.2%
Carbon monoxide incident 94 8.2%
Aircraft standby 81 7.0%
Building fires 51 4.4%
All other categories 392 34.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Gallatin County?

Jul peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 91
Feb 113
Mar 103
Apr 94
May 106
Jun 112
Jul 159
Aug 91
Sep 108
Oct 104
Nov 57
Dec 15
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Gallatin County

4,623 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 941
2022 884
2023 742
2024 903
2025 1,153
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 51 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
37%
57
Cause undetermined
23%
36
Intentional / arson
18%
27
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
11
Under investigation
11%
17
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
6
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $8.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Gallatin County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 88% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $3,300,000 BOZEMAN Building fires Major
2 $1,100,000 BOZEMAN Building fires Major
3 $1,000,000 BOZEMAN Building fires Major
4 $1,000,000 BOZEMAN Building fires Major
5 $600,000 Gallatin Gateway Building fires Major
6 $500,000 GALLATIN Building fires Major
7 $300,000 BELGRADE Building fires Major
8 $200,000 MANHATTAN Building fires Significant
9 $200,000 Three Forks Building fires Significant
10 $200,000 GALLATIN GATEWAY Building fires Significant
06 How Gallatin County compares

Gallatin County vs MT vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.75
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Gallatin County
13.75
MT avg
7.52
US avg
7.15
0.61
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Gallatin County
0.61
MT avg
0.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Gallatin County
0
MT avg
5.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Gallatin County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 30031.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Gallatin County

22 departments report from this county.

Bozeman Station 1
Bozeman
FDID 06001 710 incidents 45 paid 1 vol
Central Valley Rural Fire Dist
Belgrade
FDID 06012 80 incidents
Big Sky FD
Big Sky
FDID 06039 54 incidents 16 paid 10 vol
Three Forks VFD
—
FDID 06004 51 incidents
Gallatin Gateway VFD
Gallatin Gateway
FDID 06031 46 incidents 23 vol
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.