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 Iona responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K 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 92% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
51 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $283K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 8 | — | |
| 2022* | 6 | — | |
| 2023 | 10 | — | |
| 2024 | 14 | +40.0% | |
| 2025 | 13 | -7.1% |
* Well below Iona'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 2 building fires Iona departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 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 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Storage area, other | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Wall assembly | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 8 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 5.6% |
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 Iona mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Iona departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $500 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Iona sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 750,816 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Natural | 112,106 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 108,855 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 99,502 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52,512 | 10.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50,176 | 44.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 49,364 | 46.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 39,562 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 27,181 | 12.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 23,051 | 44.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 22,989 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 22,636 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 17,588 | 19.4 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 | 83427 | 51 |
Six Idaho cities with population within ±25% of Iona. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.