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2025 County Report

Fires in Jefferson County, MT

In 2025, fire departments serving Jefferson County responded to 86 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

9,000 residents FIPS 30043 35 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
86
666 across 5 years
Building fires
11
20 wildland
Property loss
$824K
$636K structure · $187K 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 64% of all calls.

86
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 17 19.8%
Building fires 11 12.8%
Grass fire 10 11.6%
Unauthorized burning 9 10.5%
Passenger vehicle fire 8 9.3%
All other categories 31 36.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Jefferson County?

Mar peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 10
Feb 10
Mar 16
Apr 14
May 3
Jun 7
Jul 13
Aug 1
Sep 4
Oct 1
Nov 1
Dec 6
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Jefferson County

666 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 203
2022 129
2023 83
2024 165
2025 86
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 11 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
67%
10
Cause undetermined
33%
5
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $636K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Jefferson County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 Montana City Building fires Major
2 $100,000 Boulder Building fires Significant
3 $10,000 Basin Forest, woods or wildland fire Significant
4 $6,000 Whitehall Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $5,000 Boulder Building fires Significant
6 $5,000 Boulder Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $3,700 Cardwell Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $3,700 Whitehall Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $2,000 Boulder Outside rubbish fire, other Significant
10 $1,000 Whitehall Building fires Significant
06 How Jefferson County compares

Jefferson County vs MT vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.56
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Jefferson County
9.56
MT avg
7.52
US avg
7.15
1.22
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Jefferson County
1.22
MT avg
0.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Jefferson County
0
MT avg
5.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Jefferson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 30043.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Jefferson County

9 departments report from this county.

Montana City RFD
Montana City
FDID 51034 39 incidents 31 vol
Boulder VFD
—
FDID 51001 18 incidents
Jefferson Valley RFD
—
FDID 51011 17 incidents
Whitehall VFD
—
FDID 51002 9 incidents
Basin RFD
Basin
FDID 51003 0 incidents 20 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.