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.
MTWYIDND
In 2025, fire departments serving American Falls responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
May peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
85 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 15 | — | |
| 2022* | 2 | — | |
| 2023* | 8 | — | |
| 2024 | 40 | — | |
| 2025 | 20 | -50.0% |
* Well below American Falls'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 2 building fires American Falls departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 31 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 25.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 7 | 22.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 12.9% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 6.5% |
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 American Falls mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 32.3% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Lightning | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 9.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by American Falls departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. American Falls sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,425,630 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Natural | 220,042 | 23.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 206,202 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 140,954 | 47.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 132,208 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 72,361 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 68,952 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 55,529 | 8.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 53,605 | 17.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 49,364 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 47,592 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 39,813 | 46.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 39,562 | 42.1 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 83211 | 85 |
Six Idaho cities with population within ±25% of American Falls. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in American Falls.
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.