Home› Counties› MT› Madison County
2025 County Report

Fires in Madison County, MT

In 2025, fire departments serving Madison County responded to 67 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $592K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

2,720 residents FIPS 30057 31 cities · 11 fire depts
Total incidents
67
309 across 5 years
Building fires
5
30 wildland
Property loss
$1.4M
$982K structure · $400K 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 63% of all calls.

67
Total Incidents
Grass fire 15 22.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 8 11.9%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 7 10.4%
Power line down 7 10.4%
Building fires 5 7.5%
All other categories 25 37.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Madison County?

Aug peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 5
Feb 7
Mar 5
Apr 6
May 8
Jun 5
Jul 9
Aug 17
Sep 3
Oct 2
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Madison County

309 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 37
2022 61
2023 54
2024 90
2025 67
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 5 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
58%
7
Cause undetermined
8%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
17%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
17%
2
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $982K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Madison County during 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $592,165 Ennis Building fires Major
2 $389,560 McAllister Building fires Major
06 How Madison County compares

Madison County vs MT vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

24.63
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Madison County
24.63
MT avg
7.52
US avg
7.15
1.84
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Madison County
1.84
MT avg
0.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Madison County
0
MT avg
5.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Madison County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 30057.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Madison County

11 departments report from this county.

Yellowstone Mountain Club Rural Fire District
—
FDID 25016 112 incidents
Madison Valley RFD
—
FDID 25011 38 incidents
Sheridan VFD
—
FDID 25004 19 incidents
Virginia City VFD
—
FDID 25001 0 incidents
Ennis VFD
—
FDID 25002 0 incidents
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.