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 Chinook responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
138 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $541K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 38 | — | |
| 2022 | 21 | -44.7% | |
| 2023* | 16 | — | |
| 2024 | 36 | — | |
| 2025 | 27 | -25.0% |
* Well below Chinook'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 0 building fires Chinook departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 37 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 | 6 | 16.2% | |
| 2 | Other | 5 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 3 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 3 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Service facilities, other | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 24.3% |
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 Chinook mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 18.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 7 | 18.9% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 13.5% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 4 | 10.8% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 3 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 10.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Chinook departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Chinook sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 105,415 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 33,318 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 18,915 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 7,963 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 5,154 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 4,805 | 11.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,885 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 3,670 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 3,000 | 16.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,707 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,087 | 16.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Smoking | 2,081 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,034 | 29.8 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 | 59523 | 138 |
Six Montana cities with population within ±25% of Chinook. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Chinook.
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.