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2025 County Report

Fires in Hettinger County, ND

In 2025, fire departments serving Hettinger County responded to 37 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $40K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

1,575 residents FIPS 38041 7 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
37
197 across 5 years
Building fires
1
10 wildland
Property loss
$55K
$40K structure · $15K 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 57% of all calls.

37
Total Incidents
Grass fire 6 16.2%
Cultivated grain or crop fire 6 16.2%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 4 10.8%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 3 8.1%
Fire, other 2 5.4%
All other categories 16 43.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Hettinger County?

Mar peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 0
Feb 3
Mar 13
Apr 7
May 3
Jun 1
Jul 2
Aug 5
Sep 2
Oct 0
Nov 1
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Hettinger County

197 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 52
2022 29
2023 24
2024 55
2025 37
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
80%
20
Cause undetermined
4%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
3
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
1
05 The biggest fires

1 fires · $40K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Hettinger County during 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $40,000 Regent Building fires Significant
06 How Hettinger County compares

Hettinger County vs ND vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

23.49
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Hettinger County
23.49
ND avg
7.91
US avg
7.15
0.63
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Hettinger County
0.63
ND avg
0.77
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Hettinger County
0
ND avg
11.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Hettinger County

7 cities mapped to FIPS 38041.

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.