In 2025, fire departments serving Yellowstone County responded to 1,107 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.2M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.
Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Nov dips.
5,623 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,196 | |
| 2022 | 1,132 | |
| 2023 | 1,109 | |
| 2024 | 1,079 | |
| 2025 | 1,107 |
For the 81 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Yellowstone County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 76% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,200,000 | Laurel | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $1,200,000 | Laurel | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $940,000 | BILLINGS | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $310,000 | BILLINGS | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $300,000 | BILLINGS | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $300,000 | BILLINGS | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $300,000 | Shepherd | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $281,313 | BILLINGS | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $250,000 | BILLINGS | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $150,000 | BILLINGS | Building fires | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 30111.
13 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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.