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2025 County Report

Fires in Toole County, MT

In 2025, fire departments serving Toole County responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $40K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

4,119 residents FIPS 30101 18 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
13
37 across 5 years
Building fires
2
4 wildland
Property loss
$133K
$93K structure · $40K 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 77% of all calls.

13
Total Incidents
Grass fire 4 30.8%
Building fires 2 15.4%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 2 15.4%
Fire, other 1 7.7%
Road freight or transport vehicle fire 1 7.7%
All other categories 3 23.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Toole County?

Apr peaks. Feb dips.

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

Year over year in Toole County

37 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 6
2022 6
2023 2
2024 10
2025 13
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
43%
3
Cause undetermined
29%
2
Intentional / arson
14%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

7 fires · $93K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Toole County during 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $40,000 Sweetgrass Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
2 $25,000 Oilmont Building fires Significant
3 $25,000 Sunburst Building fires Significant
4 $1,000 Oilmont Outside equipment fire Significant
5 $1,000 Kevin Grass fire Significant
6 $1,000 Sunburst Grass fire Significant
7 $50 Oilmont Grass fire Significant
06 How Toole County compares

Toole County vs MT vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

3.16
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Toole County
3.16
MT avg
7.52
US avg
7.15
0.49
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Toole County
0.49
MT avg
0.62
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Toole County
0
MT avg
5.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Toole County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 30101.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Toole County

5 departments report from this county.

Sunburst VFD
—
FDID 21002 13 incidents
Shelby VFD
—
FDID 21001 0 incidents
Kevin VFD
—
FDID 21003 0 incidents
Sweet Grass VFC
—
FDID 21031 0 incidents
Toole County SO
—
FDID 21099 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.