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 Dakota Dunes responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.5M 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 80% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
44 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 7 | -36.4% | |
| 2023 | 12 | +71.4% | |
| 2024* | 4 | — | |
| 2025 | 10 | — |
* Well below Dakota Dunes'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 Dakota Dunes departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 10 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 | 4 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 1 | 10.0% |
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 Dakota Dunes mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 10.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dakota Dunes departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Arcing, shorted electrical equipment | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dakota Dunes sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,913 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1,100 | 34.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Smoking | 800 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Fireworks | 680 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 650 | 26.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 582 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 560 | 9.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 480 | 17.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 480 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 470 | 20.4 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 | 57049 | 44 |
Six South Dakota cities with population within ±25% of Dakota Dunes. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.