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2025 County Report

Fires in Ransom County, ND

In 2025, fire departments serving Ransom County responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

3,569 residents FIPS 38073 11 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
24
151 across 5 years
Building fires
4
7 wildland
Property loss
$555K
$450K structure · $105K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.

24
Total Incidents
Building fires 4 16.7%
Grass fire 4 16.7%
Fire, other 3 12.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 2 8.3%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 1 4.2%
All other categories 10 41.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Ransom County?

Mar peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 1
Feb 0
Mar 6
Apr 4
May 0
Jun 3
Jul 3
Aug 1
Sep 1
Oct 3
Nov 2
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Ransom County

151 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 48
2022 19
2023 29
2024 31
2025 24
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 4 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
42%
5
Cause undetermined
8%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
25%
3
Under investigation
8%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
17%
2
05 The biggest fires

4 fires · $450K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $150,000 Enderlin Fire, other Significant
2 $125,000 Enderlin Building fires Significant
3 $125,000 Enderlin Building fires Significant
4 $50,000 Fort Ransom Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Ransom County compares

Ransom County vs ND vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.72
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Ransom County
6.72
ND avg
7.91
US avg
7.15
1.12
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Ransom County
1.12
ND avg
0.77
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Ransom County
0
ND avg
11.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Ransom County

11 cities mapped to FIPS 38073.

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.