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 Bozeman responded to 770 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3.3M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,756 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $7.9M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 457 | — | |
| 2022 | 474 | +3.7% | |
| 2023 | 475 | +0.2% | |
| 2024 | 580 | +22.1% | |
| 2025 | 770 | +32.8% |
For the 33 building fires Bozeman departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 460 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 | Outside area, other | 88 | 19.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 56 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 46 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 37 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 36 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 21 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 17 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 17 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 15 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Other | 14 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 113 | 24.6% |
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 Bozeman mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 199 | 43.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 29 | 6.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 28 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 26 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 25 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 22 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 21 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 17 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Match | 13 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 11 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 69 | 15.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bozeman departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,100,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $75,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bozeman sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 295,973 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 81,220 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 26,873 | 22.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 26,600 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 25,828 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Fireworks | 15,341 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 14,000 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 10,850 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 10,515 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 8,721 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8,612 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,300 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 8,224 | 4.6 mi |
Top 8 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Montana cities with population within ±25% of Bozeman. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bozeman.
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.