In 2025, fire departments serving Great Falls responded to 124 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
504 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $979K cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 109 | — | |
| 2022 | 78 | -28.4% | |
| 2023 | 78 | +0.0% | |
| 2024 | 115 | +47.4% | |
| 2025 | 124 | +7.8% |
For the 18 building fires Great Falls departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 159 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 | 28 | 17.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 28 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 16 | 10.1% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 12 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 10 | 6.3% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 7 | 4.4% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 24 | 15.1% |
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 Great Falls mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 76 | 47.8% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 8.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 12 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 10 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Match | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 15 | 9.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Great Falls departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 94% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $8,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,500 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Great Falls sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,343 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,484 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 985 | 36.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 950 | 42.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 48.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 730 | 46.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 400 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 395 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 382 | 32.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 25.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 290 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 280 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 226 | 40.0 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 South Carolina cities with population within ±25% of Great Falls. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Great Falls.
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.