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2025 County Report

Fires in Mountrail County, ND

In 2025, fire departments serving Mountrail County responded to 113 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

6,746 residents FIPS 38061 18 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
113
550 across 5 years
Building fires
9
59 wildland
Property loss
$235K
$210K structure · $25K 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 64% of all calls.

113
Total Incidents
Grass fire 41 36.3%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 10 8.8%
Building fires 9 8.0%
Road freight or transport vehicle fire 6 5.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 6 5.3%
All other categories 41 36.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Mountrail County?

Jul peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 6
Feb 4
Mar 8
Apr 18
May 16
Jun 15
Jul 27
Aug 6
Sep 1
Oct 0
Nov 4
Dec 8
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Mountrail County

550 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 161
2022 79
2023 106
2024 91
2025 113
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 9 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
62%
49
Cause undetermined
14%
11
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
16%
13
Under investigation
6%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
1
05 The biggest fires

5 fires · $210K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Mountrail County during 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 Blaisdell Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
2 $60,000 Stanley Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
3 $39,000 Ross Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
4 $10,000 Stanley Building fires Significant
5 $1,000 Parshall Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
06 How Mountrail County compares

Mountrail County vs ND vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

16.75
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Mountrail County
16.75
ND avg
7.91
US avg
7.15
1.33
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Mountrail County
1.33
ND avg
0.77
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Mountrail County
0
ND avg
11.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Mountrail County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 38061.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Mountrail County

2 departments report from this county.

New Town City Fire Department
New Town
FDID 31257 32 incidents
Plaza Fire Prot District
Plaza
FDID 31285 7 incidents 35 vol
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.