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 Glendive responded to 22 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Glendive's departments reported 22 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 64 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
320 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.7M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 108 | — | |
| 2022 | 79 | -26.9% | |
| 2023 | 39 | -50.6% | |
| 2024 | 72 | +84.6% | |
| 2025* | 22 | — |
* Well below Glendive'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 Glendive departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 47 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 | Undetermined | 15 | 31.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 21.3% | |
| 3 | Other | 3 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 12.8% |
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 Glendive mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 29 | 61.7% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 5 | 10.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 7 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 4.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Glendive departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $400 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1 | Outside rubbish fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Glendive sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 38,997 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Natural | 20,921 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 3,317 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 3,164 | 14.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 1,500 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,192 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 833 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 746 | 26.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 700 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 658 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 606 | 44.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 545 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 479 | 13.0 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 | 59330 | 320 |
Six Montana cities with population within ±25% of Glendive. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Glendive.
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.