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 Lapwai responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
39 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $427K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 9 | — | |
| 2022 | 9 | +0.0% | |
| 2023* | 2 | — | |
| 2024* | 4 | — | |
| 2025 | 15 | — |
* Well below Lapwai'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 Lapwai departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 19 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 36.8% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Wall assembly | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 5.3% |
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 Lapwai mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 21.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Fireworks | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 5.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lapwai departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lapwai sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 659,781 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Natural | 73,582 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 65,200 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 64,510 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 56,319 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 52,000 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 51,000 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 48,567 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 41,195 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 32,967 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 22,527 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 21,640 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 18,177 | 38.9 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 | 83540 | 39 |
Six Idaho cities with population within ±25% of Lapwai. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lapwai.
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.