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 Lovell responded to 55 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
302 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 51 | — | |
| 2022 | 41 | -19.6% | |
| 2023 | 82 | +100.0% | |
| 2024 | 73 | -11.0% | |
| 2025 | 55 | -24.7% |
For the 6 building fires Lovell departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 156 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 | 54 | 34.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 48 | 30.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Function area, other | 6 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Structural area, other | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 2 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 13 | 8.3% |
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 Lovell mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Match | 53 | 34.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 27 | 17.3% | |
| 3 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 10 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 8 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 8 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 8 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 6 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 21 | 13.5% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lovell sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 76,779 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Natural | 13,450 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 7,400 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 6,343 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 5,800 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 4,680 | 46.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 3,554 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,388 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,806 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,756 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 2,500 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 2,500 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,375 | 40.8 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 | 82431 | 302 |
Six Wyoming cities with population within ±25% of Lovell. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lovell.
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.