Home› Counties› ND› Ramsey County
2025 County Report

Fires in Ramsey County, ND

In 2025, fire departments serving Ramsey County responded to 74 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $30K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

7,709 residents FIPS 38071 24 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
74
475 across 5 years
Building fires
5
22 wildland
Property loss
$46K
$46K structure · $615 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 50% of all calls.

74
Total Incidents
Grass fire 9 12.2%
Authorized controlled burning 9 12.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 7 9.5%
Cooking fire, confined to container 6 8.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 6 8.1%
All other categories 37 50.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Ramsey County?

May peaks. Oct dips.

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

Year over year in Ramsey County

475 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 128
2022 102
2023 84
2024 87
2025 74
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
64%
18
Cause undetermined
21%
6
Intentional / arson
7%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
2
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

4 fires · $46K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Ramsey County during 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $30,000 DEVILS LAKE Building fires Significant
2 $15,000 Devils Lake Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $500 DEVILS LAKE Fire, other Significant
4 $300 DEVILS LAKE Cooking fire, confined to container Significant
06 How Ramsey County compares

Ramsey County vs ND vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.6
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Ramsey County
9.6
ND avg
7.91
US avg
7.15
0.65
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Ramsey County
0.65
ND avg
0.77
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Ramsey County
0
ND avg
11.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Ramsey County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 38071.

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.