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 Garden City responded to 78 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $175K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 47% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
401 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 76 | — | |
| 2022 | 81 | +6.6% | |
| 2023 | 72 | -11.1% | |
| 2024 | 94 | +30.6% | |
| 2025 | 78 | -17.0% |
For the 9 building fires Garden City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 122 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 | 17 | 13.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 13 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 11 | 9.0% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 6.6% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Entrance way, lobby | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 39 | 32.0% |
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 Garden City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 58 | 47.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 4.9% | |
| 3 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 6 | 4.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Match | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 19 | 15.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Garden City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 92% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Garden City sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
24 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 12 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,347,351 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 188,404 | 32.8 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 177,544 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 146,832 | 45.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 146,400 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 135,231 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 129,730 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 54,350 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 46,444 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 42,543 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 32,812 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 31,316 | 41.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 30,655 | 17.3 mi |
Top 6 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Idaho cities with population within ±25% of Garden City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Garden City.
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.