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2025 County Report

Fires in Sargent County, ND

In 2025, fire departments serving Sargent County responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $700K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

2,448 residents FIPS 38081 17 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
19
70 across 5 years
Building fires
2
9 wildland
Property loss
$860K
$860K 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 79% of all calls.

19
Total Incidents
Grass fire 7 36.8%
Fire, other 4 21.1%
Building fires 2 10.5%
Passenger vehicle fire 1 5.3%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 1 5.3%
All other categories 4 21.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Sargent County?

Mar peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 1
Feb 0
Mar 5
Apr 0
May 4
Jun 1
Jul 0
Aug 0
Sep 2
Oct 1
Nov 2
Dec 3
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Sargent County

70 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 16
2022 11
2023 5
2024 19
2025 19
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 2 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
77%
10
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
15%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

4 fires · $860K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $700,000 Forman Building fires Major
2 $100,000 gwinner Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
3 $50,000 Gwinner Passenger vehicle fire Significant
4 $10,000 Gwinner Fire, other Significant
06 How Sargent County compares

Sargent County vs ND vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

7.76
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Sargent County
7.76
ND avg
7.91
US avg
7.15
0.82
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Sargent County
0.82
ND avg
0.77
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Sargent County
0
ND avg
11.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Sargent County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 38081.

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.