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 Choteau responded to 39 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500 building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 74% of all calls.
May peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
104 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $251K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 22 | — | |
| 2022 | 17 | -22.7% | |
| 2023* | 7 | — | |
| 2024 | 19 | — | |
| 2025 | 39 | +105.3% |
* Well below Choteau'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 5 building fires Choteau departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 4 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 1 | 25.0% |
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 Choteau mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Incendiary device | 1 | 25.0% | |
| 4 | Lightning | 1 | 25.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Choteau departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500 | Outside rubbish fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Choteau sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 353,528 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Natural | 60,038 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 53,640 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 52,505 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 29,253 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 22,142 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 18,025 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 17,319 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 12,379 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 11,003 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 9,863 | 36.5 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,680 | 13.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 7,600 | 35.4 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 Montana cities with population within ±25% of Choteau. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Choteau.
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.