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2025 County Report

Fires in Morton County, ND

In 2025, fire departments serving Morton County responded to 115 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $534K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

27,089 residents FIPS 38059 26 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
115
974 across 5 years
Building fires
17
36 wildland
Property loss
$1.9M
$1.7M structure · $270K contents
Casualties
2 / 0
2 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 59% of all calls.

115
Total Incidents
Grass fire 26 22.6%
Building fires 17 14.8%
Passenger vehicle fire 9 7.8%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 8 7.0%
Power line down 8 7.0%
All other categories 47 40.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Morton County?

May peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 5
Feb 6
Mar 16
Apr 20
May 25
Jun 20
Jul 10
Aug 3
Sep 2
Oct 1
Nov 4
Dec 3
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Morton County

974 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 262
2022 211
2023 174
2024 212
2025 115
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 17 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
58%
44
Cause undetermined
8%
6
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
18%
14
Under investigation
7%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
9%
7
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Morton County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 94% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $533,700 Mandan Building fires Major
2 $400,000 Hebron Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
3 $300,000 New Salem Building fires Major
4 $60,000 Mandan Building fires Significant
5 $60,000 Mandan Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
6 $50,000 glen ullin Building fires Significant
7 $50,000 glen ullin Outside equipment fire Significant
8 $40,000 glen ullin Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
9 $40,000 Mandan Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
10 $20,000 Glen ullin Building fires Significant
06 How Morton County compares

Morton County vs ND vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.25
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Morton County
4.25
ND avg
7.91
US avg
7.15
0.63
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Morton County
0.63
ND avg
0.77
US avg
0.82
73.8
Civilian fire deaths per million
Morton County
73.8
ND avg
11.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Morton County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 38059.

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.