The Office of the State Fire Marshal, a division of the North Dakota Insurance Department, released the preliminary fire statistics for 2024.
As of February 1st, North Dakota fire departments have reported 2,924 fire-related incidents for 2024. State Fire Marshal Doug Nelson says this number is pretty average for the state.
"We're remaining around 3,00 fires roughly per year and that does include building fires, structure fires, vehicle fires, wildland fires, and other types of fires within that. But it is maintaining relatively static year to year over the past few years."
North Dakota saw 11 fire-related fatalities in 2024, compared to 10 in 2023. Around $26.9 million dollars in property was lost from fires last year, which is on track to be the lowest yearly loss since 2018. This is despite North Dakota seeing the largest wildfires in its history in 2024.
Nelson says he’s relieved to see fire incidents remaining on par with previous years. He hopes to continue lowering the number of fire incidents through community risk reduction programs and education.
"We work with local fire departments to try to make sure that we're sharing information as best we can around the state to identify what programs are having positive effects. So, we do coordinate with those fire departments and those fire marshals to make sure we're getting the information out there and highlighting the best programs that we can, to have the best reduction in those fire risks and fatalities in those fires overall as we move forward."
North Dakota has 355 fire departments and districts which have until June 30th to submit their reports for 2024. Official numbers will be released at that time.