Red Flag Warnings Blanket Five Northern Rockies and Plains States
Critical fire weather triggered Red Flag Warnings across Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and the Dakotas on Sept. 10, capping an active season in the region.
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In 2025, fire departments across North Dakota responded to 4,923 fire and hazmat incidents — including the Windy wildfire that burned 16,162 acres in 2021.
North Dakota ranks #19 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.
Grass fire lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 46% of all calls.
May peaks. Oct dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Jul peaks across the window; Feb dips.
27,620 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 6,585 | |
| 2022 | 5,252 | |
| 2023 | 5,385 | |
| 2024 | 5,475 | |
| 2025 | 4,923 |
For the 481 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Combined NFIRS + FPA-FOD totals across the available reporting window. Click a cause to see how it plays out nationwide.
| # | Cause | Incidents | FOD vs NFIRS | Acres | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arson / incendiarism | 9,266 | 8,311 / 955 | 87,384 | |
| 2 | Undetermined / missing | 5,497 | 3,231 / 2,266 | 118,688 | |
| 3 | Debris & open burning | 3,727 | 3,727 / 0 | 133,133 | |
| 4 | Equipment & vehicle use | 3,317 | 1,331 / 1,986 | 49,894 | |
| 5 | Natural (lightning) | 1,478 | 1,003 / 475 | 52,131 | |
| 6 | Fireworks | 933 | 933 / 0 | 1,809 | |
| 7 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 513 | 513 / 0 | 4,820 | |
| 8 | Recreation & ceremony | 281 | 281 / 0 | 16,026 | |
| 9 | Power generation / utility | 228 | 228 / 0 | 11,740 | |
| 10 | Other causes | 224 | 144 / 80 | 366 | |
| 11 | Smoking | 181 | 181 / 0 | 5,245 | |
| 12 | Railroad operations | 123 | 123 / 0 | 9,699 |
Topical groupings of NFIRS incident types — building, cooking, electrical, vehicle, and more. Each links to its national rollup.
| # | Topic | Incidents | Loss | Deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outdoor fires | 7,634 | $2.5M | 4 | |
| 2 | Wildland fires | 6,287 | $2.4M | 4 | |
| 3 | Building fires | 4,976 | $89.9M | 24 | |
| 4 | Gas leaks | 4,029 | $14K | 0 | |
| 5 | Vehicle fires | 2,907 | $23.7M | 10 | |
| 6 | Electrical / wiring | 1,935 | $140K | 0 | |
| 7 | Rubbish / refuse | 1,501 | $203K | 0 | |
| 8 | Cooking-related | 766 | $87K | 0 | |
| 9 | Arson | 562 | $1.1M | 1 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 39% of North Dakota's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000,000 | FARGO | Accident, potential accident, other | Major |
| 2 | $1,200,000 | Rolla | Fires in structures other than in a building | Major |
| 3 | $750,000 | South SheridanUnor | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Major |
| 4 | $700,000 | Walhalla | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major |
| 5 | $700,000 | Forman | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $600,000 | Montpelier | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major |
| 7 | $550,000 | Noonan | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major |
| 8 | $533,700 | Mandan | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $491,400 | FARGO | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $450,000 | FARGO | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare North Dakota apples-to-apples to the national average.
12 largest reporting cities by population.
Top 10 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.
| # | County | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cass County | 963 | 179,469 |
| 2 | Ward County | 449 | 58,776 |
| 3 | Stark County | 421 | 27,515 |
| 4 | Rolette County | 396 | 6,935 |
| 5 | Burleigh County | 334 | 78,613 |
| 6 | Williams County | 307 | 31,437 |
| 7 | Grand Forks County | 264 | 65,645 |
| 8 | McKenzie County | 125 | 7,322 |
| 9 | Richland County | 117 | 11,657 |
| 10 | Morton County | 115 | 27,089 |
Top 4 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.
| # | County | Inc / 1k | Incidents | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ward County | 7.64 | 449 | 58,776 | |
| 2 | Cass County | 5.37 | 963 | 179,469 | |
| 3 | Burleigh County | 4.25 | 334 | 78,613 | |
| 4 | Grand Forks County | 4.02 | 264 | 65,645 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Windy | 2021 | USFS | 16,161 |
| 2 | Elkhorn | 2024 | USFS | 10,884 |
| 3 | Pautre | 2013 | USFS | 10,679 |
| 4 | LITTLE SWALLOW | 2021 | BIA | 9,057 |
| 5 | BlackHorseCreek | 2006 | USFS | 7,830 |
| 6 | Mike'SCreek | 1988 | USFS | 5,819 |
| 7 | Hwy31 & 101ST West | 2022 | BIA | 5,289 |
| 8 | Horse Pasture | 2021 | USFS | 4,647 |
| 9 | Roosevelt Creek | 2021 | USFS | 4,580 |
| 10 | RidgeRoad | 2015 | USFS | 3,328 |
926 perimeters and 155,309 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 11 | 15,455 | |
| 1990s | 18 | 205 | |
| 2000s | 136 | 21,825 | |
| 2010s | 228 | 40,760 | |
| 2020s | 533 | 77,064 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by decade, broken down by cause category. Each row sums to the decade's total; the bars show the share each cause contributed.
| Decade | Total fires | Share by cause |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 3,533 | |
| 2000s | 7,708 | |
| 2010s | 8,021 | |
| 2020s | 758 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 20,020 ignitions total.
168 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 5-year window. Age and gender are coarse-binned for privacy.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 3 | |
| 10-19 | 5 | |
| 20-29 | 28 | |
| 30-39 | 46 | |
| 40-49 | 30 | |
| 50-59 | 14 | |
| 60-69 | 22 | |
| 70-79 | 14 | |
| 80+ | 3 |
State totals reflect incidents reported by fire departments to NFIRS for 2025. The 5-year totals span 2021 through 2025. Wildfire perimeters and decade-by-decade counts are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History service. NFIRS reporting is voluntary, so totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.