In 2025, fire departments serving Pennington County responded to 827 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Oct dips.
4,152 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,107 | |
| 2022 | 823 | |
| 2023 | 660 | |
| 2024 | 735 | |
| 2025 | 827 |
For the 105 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Pennington County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 60% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Rapid City | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $224,400 | Rapid City | Building fires | Significant |
| 3 | $150,000 | Box Elder | Building fires | Significant |
| 4 | $150,000 | Hill City | Building fires | Significant |
| 5 | $150,000 | Rapid City | Building fires | Significant |
| 6 | $100,000 | Scenic | Building fires | Significant |
| 7 | $100,000 | Rapid City | Building fires | Significant |
| 8 | $90,000 | Rapid City | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant |
| 9 | $60,000 | Rapid City | Building fires | Significant |
| 10 | $53,000 | Rapid City | Building fires | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 46103.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Rapid City | 75,632 | View › |
| Box Elder | 11,905 | View › |
| Rapid Valley | 7,324 | View › |
| Colonial Pine Hills | 2,346 | View › |
| Green Valley | 1,353 | View › |
| Ashland Heights | 1,215 | View › |
| Johnson Siding | 658 | View › |
| Wall | 650 | View › |
| Hill City | 630 | View › |
| New Underwood | 574 | View › |
| Keystone | 385 | View › |
| Quinn | 80 | View › |
18 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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.