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2025 County Report

Fires in Lake County, SD

In 2025, fire departments serving Lake County responded to 3 fire and hazmat incidents. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

8,207 residents FIPS 46079 19 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
3
90 across 5 years
Building fires
2
0 wildland
Property loss
$0
$0 structure · $0 contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.

3
Total Incidents
Building fires 2 66.7%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 1 33.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Lake County?

Feb peaks. Jan dips.

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

Year over year in Lake County

90 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 29
2022 18
2023 32
2024 8
2025 3
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
0%
0
Cause undetermined
100%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
06 How Lake County compares

Lake County vs SD vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

0.37
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Lake County
0.37
SD avg
5.75
US avg
7.15
0.24
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Lake County
0.24
SD avg
0.72
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Lake County
0
SD avg
7.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Lake County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 46079.

CityPopulation 
Madison 6,271 View ›
Lake Madison 850 View ›
Ramona 284 View ›
Chester 237 View ›
Brant Lake South 223 View ›
Wentworth 175 View ›
Brant Lake 76 View ›
Winfred 46 View ›
Nunda 45 View ›
Smiths Park 0 View ›
Franklin 0 View ›
Peninsula Park 0 View ›
08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Lake County

6 departments report from this county.

Madison
Madison
FDID 43101 2 incidents 27 vol
Chester
Chester
FDID 43001 1 incidents 21 vol
Nunda
Nunda
FDID 43002 0 incidents 26 vol
Ramona
Ramona
FDID 43003 0 incidents 21 vol
Wentworth
Wentworth
FDID 43004 0 incidents 18 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in SD

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Jasper 2000 NPS 82,295
2 Cottonwood CA 2016 USFS 41,370
3 Power Dam Road 2024 BIA 15,319
4 INDIAN CANYON 2016 USFS 14,297
5 Casino 2022 BIA 12,636
6 Myrtle 2012 NPS 9,944
7 Turkey Day 2022 BIA 5,945
8 Cold Brook WF 2015 NPS 5,444
9 SHIRTTAIL 1991 NPS 3,750
10 BENT RIM 2020 BIA 3,625

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.