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2025 County Report

Fires in Sweet Grass County, MT

In 2025, fire departments serving Sweet Grass County responded to 43 fire and hazmat incidents. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

1,793 residents FIPS 30097 7 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
43
247 across 5 years
Building fires
0
17 wildland
Property loss
$0
$0 structure · $0 contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.

43
Total Incidents
Power line down 12 27.9%
Grass fire 10 23.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 4 9.3%
Special outside fire, other 3 7.0%
Unauthorized burning 3 7.0%
All other categories 11 25.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Sweet Grass County?

Dec peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 1
Feb 4
Mar 2
Apr 4
May 1
Jun 4
Jul 5
Aug 7
Sep 2
Oct 1
Nov 2
Dec 10
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Sweet Grass County

247 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 56
2022 44
2023 42
2024 62
2025 43
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 0 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
72%
13
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
6%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
17%
3
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
1
06 How Sweet Grass County compares

Sweet Grass County vs MT vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

23.98
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Sweet Grass County
23.98
MT avg
7.52
US avg
7.15
0
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Sweet Grass County
0
MT avg
0.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Sweet Grass County
0
MT avg
5.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Sweet Grass County

7 cities mapped to FIPS 30097.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Sweet Grass County

4 departments report from this county.

Big Timber RFD
—
FDID 40011 27 incidents 70 vol
Big Timber VFD
—
FDID 40001 16 incidents 40 vol
Conrad MSR VFD
—
FDID 26021 0 incidents
Sweet Grass Co Fire Dept
—
FDID 40021 0 incidents
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.