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2025 County Report

Fires in Richland County, MT

In 2025, fire departments serving Richland County responded to 78 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $40K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

7,895 residents FIPS 30083 19 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
78
386 across 5 years
Building fires
8
32 wildland
Property loss
$63K
$43K structure · $20K 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.

78
Total Incidents
Grass fire 20 25.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 13 16.7%
Building fires 8 10.3%
Power line down 5 6.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 4 5.1%
All other categories 28 35.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Richland County?

Jul peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 4
Feb 4
Mar 7
Apr 4
May 6
Jun 9
Jul 15
Aug 6
Sep 8
Oct 3
Nov 4
Dec 8
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Richland County

386 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 115
2022 58
2023 60
2024 75
2025 78
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 8 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
82%
14
Cause undetermined
6%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
6%
1
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $43K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Richland County during 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $40,000 Fairview Building fires Significant
2 $2,500 Fairview Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Richland County compares

Richland County vs MT vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.88
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Richland County
9.88
MT avg
7.52
US avg
7.15
1.01
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Richland County
1.01
MT avg
0.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Richland County
0
MT avg
5.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Richland County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 30083.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Richland County

4 departments report from this county.

Sidney RFD
—
FDID 27011 35 incidents
Sidney VFD
—
FDID 27001 24 incidents
Fairview Volunteer
Fairview
FDID 27002 20 incidents 20 vol
Savage VFC
Savage
FDID 27032 8 incidents 28 vol
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.