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2025 County Report

Fires in Rolette County, ND

In 2025, fire departments serving Rolette County responded to 396 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.2M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

6,935 residents FIPS 38079 15 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
396
1,634 across 5 years
Building fires
26
259 wildland
Property loss
$1.2M
$1.2M 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 76% of all calls.

396
Total Incidents
Grass fire 197 49.7%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 31 7.8%
Building fires 26 6.6%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 24 6.1%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 23 5.8%
All other categories 95 24.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Rolette County?

Apr peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 9
Feb 8
Mar 34
Apr 128
May 120
Jun 34
Jul 33
Aug 11
Sep 4
Oct 5
Nov 7
Dec 3
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Rolette County

1,634 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 327
2022 225
2023 355
2024 331
2025 396
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 26 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
42%
94
Cause undetermined
13%
30
Intentional / arson
28%
63
Equipment / heat source failure
4%
8
Under investigation
12%
28
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
1
05 The biggest fires

1 fires · $1.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Rolette County during 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,200,000 Rolla Fires in structures other than in a building Major
06 How Rolette County compares

Rolette County vs ND vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

57.1
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Rolette County
57.1
ND avg
7.91
US avg
7.15
3.75
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Rolette County
3.75
ND avg
0.77
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Rolette County
0
ND avg
11.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Rolette County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 38079.

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.