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2025 County Report

Fires in Latah County, ID

In 2025, fire departments serving Latah County responded to 338 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $583K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

30,670 residents FIPS 16057 25 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
338
1,449 across 5 years
Building fires
33
53 wildland
Property loss
$3.8M
$3.0M structure · $732K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Arcing, shorted electrical equipment lead by count. Top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.

338
Total Incidents
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 52 15.4%
Building fires 33 9.8%
Authorized controlled burning 29 8.6%
Power line down 27 8.0%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 26 7.7%
All other categories 171 50.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Latah County?

Dec peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 22
Feb 13
Mar 14
Apr 19
May 18
Jun 27
Jul 32
Aug 38
Sep 33
Oct 28
Nov 22
Dec 72
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Latah County

1,449 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 308
2022 253
2023 239
2024 311
2025 338
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 33 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
56%
37
Cause undetermined
12%
8
Intentional / arson
5%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
15%
10
Under investigation
8%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.8M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Latah County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 92% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $583,000 MOSCOW Building fires Major
2 $500,000 City of Onaway Building fires Major
3 $300,000 MOSCOW Building fires Major
4 $300,000 Troy Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
5 $300,000 Troy Building fires Major
6 $300,000 Deary Building fires Major
7 $250,000 Deary Building fires Major
8 $100,000 MOSCOW Building fires Significant
9 $80,000 Kendrick Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $75,000 MOSCOW Building fires Significant
06 How Latah County compares

Latah County vs ID vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

11.02
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Latah County
11.02
ID avg
8.41
US avg
7.15
1.08
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Latah County
1.08
ID avg
0.8
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Latah County
0
ID avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Latah County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 16057.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Latah County

5 departments report from this county.

Potlatch Rural Fire District
Potlatch
FDID 57336 34 incidents 35 vol
Deary Rural Fire District
Deary
FDID 57342 26 incidents 25 vol
Kendrick Vol Fire Department
Kendrick
FDID 57306 14 incidents
Juliaetta Vol Fire Department
Juliaetta
FDID 57307 1 incidents 11 vol
Bovill Fire Protection Distric
Bovill
FDID 57309 0 incidents 15 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in ID

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Elk Mountain 2007 BLM 578,403
2 LONG BUTTE 2010 BLM 305,994
3 Mustang Complex 2012 USFS 287,852
4 SODA 2015 BLM 279,111
5 Diamond Pt Complex 2000 USFS 234,315
6 Pioneer 2016 USFS 188,404
7 PADDOCK 2024 BLM 187,184
8 Halstead 2012 USFS 179,308
9 Clear Creek 2000 USFS 164,755
10 Moose 2022 USFS 130,197

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.