Home› Counties› ND› Golden Valley County
2025 County Report

Fires in Golden Valley County, ND

In 2025, fire departments serving Golden Valley County responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

1,133 residents FIPS 38033 8 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
25
154 across 5 years
Building fires
1
10 wildland
Property loss
$436K
$426K structure · $10K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Grass fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.

25
Total Incidents
Grass fire 8 32.0%
Passenger vehicle fire 5 20.0%
Fire, other 2 8.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 2 8.0%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 2 8.0%
All other categories 6 24.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Golden Valley County?

Apr peaks. Jan dips.

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

Year over year in Golden Valley County

154 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 40
2022 17
2023 29
2024 43
2025 25
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
31%
5
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
31%
5
Under investigation
6%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
32%
5
05 The biggest fires

6 fires · $426K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Golden Valley County during 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 Beach Passenger vehicle fire Major
2 $50,000 Beach Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $50,000 Beach Building fires Significant
4 $20,000 Beach Fire, other Significant
5 $5,000 Beach Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $1,000 Beach Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Golden Valley County compares

Golden Valley County vs ND vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

22.07
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Golden Valley County
22.07
ND avg
7.91
US avg
7.15
0.88
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Golden Valley County
0.88
ND avg
0.77
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Golden Valley County
0
ND avg
11.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Golden Valley County

8 cities mapped to FIPS 38033.

09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in ND

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Windy 2021 USFS 16,161
2 Elkhorn 2024 USFS 10,884
3 Pautre 2013 USFS 10,679
4 LITTLE SWALLOW 2021 BIA 9,057
5 BlackHorseCreek 2006 USFS 7,830
6 Mike'SCreek 1988 USFS 5,819
7 Hwy31 & 101ST West 2022 BIA 5,289
8 Horse Pasture 2021 USFS 4,647
9 Roosevelt Creek 2021 USFS 4,580
10 RidgeRoad 2015 USFS 3,328

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.