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 serving Alpine responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
81 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $21K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 15 | — | |
| 2022* | 9 | — | |
| 2023 | 10 | — | |
| 2024 | 24 | +140.0% | |
| 2025 | 23 | -4.2% |
* Well below Alpine's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 1 building fires Alpine departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 22 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 13.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Function area, other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Wall assembly | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 18.2% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Alpine mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 22.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Lightning | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 18.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Alpine departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Alpine sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 247,504 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | 61,522 | 23.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52,512 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 34,313 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 9,800 | 18.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 9,670 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,590 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 6,491 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Fireworks | 6,224 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 5,429 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 4,500 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 4,470 | 17.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 4,059 | 43.7 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Wyoming cities with population within ±25% of Alpine. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Alpine.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.