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 Gillette responded to 162 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K 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 57% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
449 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.1M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 14 | — | |
| 2022* | 24 | — | |
| 2023* | 19 | — | |
| 2024 | 230 | — | |
| 2025 | 162 | -29.6% |
* Well below Gillette'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 12 building fires Gillette departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 97 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 | 22 | 22.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 7 | 7.2% | |
| 3 | Other | 6 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 35 | 36.1% |
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 Gillette mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 31 | 32.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 12 | 12.4% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 9 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 13 | 13.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Gillette departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gillette sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 140,182 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 20,000 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20,000 | 17.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 14,886 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 12,347 | 39.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 7,150 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 6,949 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 6,612 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 5,321 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 4,704 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 4,321 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 4,212 | 15.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 4,151 | 46.6 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Wyoming cities with population within ±25% of Gillette. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Gillette.
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.