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 De Smet responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $350K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside equipment fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
28 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022 | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 7 | +16.7% | |
| 2024* | 3 | — | |
| 2025 | 10 | — |
* Well below De Smet'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 De Smet 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 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Office | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Light shaft | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 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 De Smet mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 30.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 10.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by De Smet departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $350,000 | Outside equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Outside equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. De Smet sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,038 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 1,250 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Other causes | 1,200 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 620 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 440 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 425 | 45.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 400 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 400 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 355 | 33.5 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six South Dakota cities with population within ±25% of De Smet. 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.