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2025 County Report

Fires in Stark County, ND

In 2025, fire departments serving Stark County responded to 421 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

27,515 residents FIPS 38089 13 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
421
1,971 across 5 years
Building fires
28
27 wildland
Property loss
$2.1M
$1.8M structure · $330K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.

421
Total Incidents
Authorized controlled burning 191 45.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 29 6.9%
Building fires 28 6.7%
Carbon monoxide incident 25 5.9%
Grass fire 24 5.7%
All other categories 124 29.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Stark County?

Jul peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 35
Feb 30
Mar 27
Apr 36
May 30
Jun 31
Jul 58
Aug 40
Sep 33
Oct 23
Nov 47
Dec 31
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Stark County

1,971 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 412
2022 440
2023 366
2024 332
2025 421
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 28 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
62%
68
Cause undetermined
4%
4
Intentional / arson
4%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
13%
14
Under investigation
6%
7
Act of nature (lightning)
11%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Stark County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 73% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 Dickinson Building fires Major
2 $200,000 DICKINSON Building fires Significant
3 $175,000 Dickinson Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
4 $140,000 RICHARDTON Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 DICKINSON Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
6 $100,000 DICKINSON Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 Taylor Building fires Significant
8 $70,000 DICKINSON Building fires Significant
9 $65,000 RICHARDTON Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
10 $62,000 DICKINSON Building fires Significant
06 How Stark County compares

Stark County vs ND vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

15.3
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Stark County
15.3
ND avg
7.91
US avg
7.15
1.02
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Stark County
1.02
ND avg
0.77
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Stark County
0
ND avg
11.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Stark County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 38089.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Stark County

1 departments report from this county.

South Heart Fire Prot District
South Heart
FDID 45326 0 incidents 29 vol
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.