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2025 County Report

Fires in Yankton County, SD

In 2025, fire departments serving Yankton County responded to 110 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

16,424 residents FIPS 46135 11 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
110
365 across 5 years
Building fires
11
17 wildland
Property loss
$1.4M
$927K structure · $517K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 45% of all calls.

110
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 12 10.9%
Building fires 11 10.0%
Fire, other 10 9.1%
Cooking fire, confined to container 9 8.2%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 7 6.4%
All other categories 61 55.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Yankton County?

Apr peaks. May dips.

Jan 11
Feb 6
Mar 7
Apr 16
May 5
Jun 10
Jul 7
Aug 6
Sep 11
Oct 11
Nov 12
Dec 8
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Yankton County

365 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 24
2022 27
2023 106
2024 98
2025 110
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 11 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
74%
34
Cause undetermined
11%
5
Intentional / arson
13%
6
Equipment / heat source failure
2%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $904K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Yankton County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 97% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 YANKTON Building fires Major
2 $200,000 YANKTON Building fires Significant
3 $200,000 MISSION HILL Building fires Significant
4 $120,000 MISSION HILL Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
5 $75,000 MISSION HILL Building fires Significant
6 $30,000 MISSION HILL Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
7 $10,000 YANKTON Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $8,000 YANKTON Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $6,000 YANKTON Fire, other Significant
10 $5,000 Yankton Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Yankton County compares

Yankton County vs SD vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.7
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Yankton County
6.7
SD avg
5.75
US avg
7.15
0.67
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Yankton County
0.67
SD avg
0.72
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Yankton County
0
SD avg
7.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Yankton County

11 cities mapped to FIPS 46135.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Yankton County

5 departments report from this county.

Yankton Fire Department
Yankton
FDID 07101 62 incidents 2 paid
Central Station for 7007
Yankton
FDID 07007 41 incidents 2 paid
Gayville
Gayville
FDID 07001 8 incidents 22 vol
Volin
Volin
FDID 07005 1 incidents 25 vol
Lesterville
Lesterville
FDID 07002 0 incidents 23 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in SD

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Jasper 2000 NPS 82,295
2 Cottonwood CA 2016 USFS 41,370
3 Power Dam Road 2024 BIA 15,319
4 INDIAN CANYON 2016 USFS 14,297
5 Casino 2022 BIA 12,636
6 Myrtle 2012 NPS 9,944
7 Turkey Day 2022 BIA 5,945
8 Cold Brook WF 2015 NPS 5,444
9 SHIRTTAIL 1991 NPS 3,750
10 BENT RIM 2020 BIA 3,625

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.