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2025 County Report

Fires in Stillwater County, MT

In 2025, fire departments serving Stillwater County responded to 108 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $125K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

4,260 residents FIPS 30095 15 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
108
573 across 5 years
Building fires
2
44 wildland
Property loss
$332K
$166K structure · $166K 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 59% of all calls.

108
Total Incidents
Grass fire 20 18.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 17 15.7%
Passenger vehicle fire 10 9.3%
Authorized controlled burning 9 8.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 8 7.4%
All other categories 44 40.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Stillwater County?

Jul peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 3
Feb 8
Mar 13
Apr 12
May 4
Jun 14
Jul 24
Aug 8
Sep 16
Oct 5
Nov 1
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Stillwater County

573 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 131
2022 113
2023 110
2024 111
2025 108
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
38%
10
Cause undetermined
19%
5
Intentional / arson
23%
6
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
2
Under investigation
4%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
8%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $166K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Stillwater County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $125,000 Columbus Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
2 $20,000 Park City Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $15,000 Columbus Passenger vehicle fire Significant
4 $2,500 Columbus Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $1,000 Reed Point Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
6 $1,000 Columbus Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
7 $500 Molt Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
8 $500 Columbus Grass fire Significant
9 $250 Columbus Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $250 Columbus Trash or rubbish fire, contained Significant
06 How Stillwater County compares

Stillwater County vs MT vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

25.35
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Stillwater County
25.35
MT avg
7.52
US avg
7.15
0.47
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Stillwater County
0.47
MT avg
0.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Stillwater County
0
MT avg
5.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Stillwater County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 30095.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Stillwater County

8 departments report from this county.

Park City RFD
—
FDID 32002 40 incidents 28 vol
Molt Volunteer Fire Depart
—
FDID 03030 3 incidents
Rapelje VFC
—
FDID 32022 1 incidents
Columbus VFD
—
FDID 32001 0 incidents 1 vol
Reed Point VFD
Reed Point
FDID 32003 0 incidents 17 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.