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2025 County Report

Fires in Pondera County, MT

In 2025, fire departments serving Pondera County responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

4,343 residents FIPS 30073 15 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
21
93 across 5 years
Building fires
1
13 wildland
Property loss
$0
$0 structure · $0 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 86% of all calls.

21
Total Incidents
Grass fire 12 57.1%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 2 9.5%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 2 9.5%
Fire, other 1 4.8%
Building fires 1 4.8%
All other categories 3 14.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Pondera County?

Jun peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 1
Feb 0
Mar 3
Apr 1
May 1
Jun 4
Jul 3
Aug 3
Sep 3
Oct 2
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Pondera County

93 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 37
2022 14
2023 13
2024 8
2025 21
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 1 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
1
Cause undetermined
50%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
06 How Pondera County compares

Pondera County vs MT vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.84
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Pondera County
4.84
MT avg
7.52
US avg
7.15
0.23
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Pondera County
0.23
MT avg
0.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Pondera County
0
MT avg
5.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Pondera County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 30073.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Pondera County

5 departments report from this county.

Conrad VFD
—
FDID 26001 20 incidents
Brady VFC
Brady
FDID 26002 0 incidents 16 vol
Valier VFD
Valier
FDID 26003 0 incidents 22 vol
Conrad RFD
—
FDID 26011 0 incidents
Dupuyer VFC
DUPUYER
FDID 26031 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.