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.
MTWYIDND
In 2025, fire departments serving Grand Forks responded to 201 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,474 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $4.0M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 319 | — | |
| 2022 | 328 | +2.8% | |
| 2023 | 331 | +0.9% | |
| 2024 | 295 | -10.9% | |
| 2025 | 201 | -31.9% |
For the 11 building fires Grand Forks departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 518 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 78 | 15.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 62 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 49 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 42 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 40 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 31 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 15 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 14 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 12 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 12 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 163 | 31.5% |
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 Grand Forks mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 198 | 38.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 90 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 40 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 36 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 26 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 25 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 16 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 8 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 60 | 11.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Grand Forks departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $6,957 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $6,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Grand Forks sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
20 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 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 8 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 32,753 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,500 | 19.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,440 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 3,200 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,425 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,792 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,600 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,422 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,150 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 1,120 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 927 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 800 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 787 | 48.7 mi |
Top 8 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six North Dakota cities with population within ±25% of Grand Forks. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Grand Forks.
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.